is somewhat more out of doubt it must Those Canons which are only fathered on the Apostles will else run cross with those which are theirs indeed When Saint Paul lessoned those of Corinth 1 Cor. 6. that rather than they should profane the Gospel with contentious suits they should refer their differences to their Brethren Think you it was his purpose either to exclude the Clergy then or their Bishop after when they had one No saith Saint Ambrose Ambros Com. in 1 ad Cor. c. 6. if the work be his Melius dicit apud dei ministros causam agere no better way than to refer the business to Gods Ministers who being guided by the fear of God will determin rightly in the same Or is the Bishop only to be barred this Office Not so saith he For if Saint Paul adviseth them to submit themselves unto the judgment of their Brethren it was upon this reason principally quia adhuc Rector in eorum Ecclesia non esset ordinatus because as then there was no Bishop in that Church Saint Austin gives it more exactly makes it a charge imposed upon the Bishop by Saint Pauls command For speaking of the pains he took in the determining of such causes as were brought before him August de Opere Monarch c. 29. he tells us that he underwent the same in obedience only to Saint Paul's injunction quibus nos molestiis idem affixit Apostolus as his words there are and that Saint Paul imposed it not by his own authority sed ejus qui in eo loquebatur but by the authority of the Holy Ghost which did dictate to him adding withal that howsoever it was irksome and laborious to him yet he did patiently discharge his duty in it pro spe aeternae vitae only upon the hope of life eternal And it is worth the observation that venerable Beda making a Comment upon Saint Pauls Epistle collected out of several passages of Saint Austins writings he putteth down this place at large as the most full and proper exposition of the Apostles words Secularia judicia si habueritis c. 1 Cor. 6.4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life c. Here then we have the Bishop interessed in the determining of suits and differences a secular imployment surely and yet no violence offered to the sacred Canon May he not go a little further and intermeddle if occasion be in matters of the Common-wealth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Synesius in Ep. 57. I do not blame those Bishops saith Synesius that are so imployed such as are fitted with abilities for the undertaking being by him a strict and rigorous man permitted to employ the same And more than so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it maketh for Gods praise and glory that it should be so that men on whom he hath bestowed abilities to perform both Offices should do accordingly But these I put down here as opinions only the practice of them we shall see in a place more proper If then it be demanded what those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã those worldly cares and secular imployments are which the Canon speaks off Zonar Comment in Conc. Chalced. Can. 3. Zonaras will inform us in another place that the Canon aimeth at the mingling of the Roman Magistracies ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with the Episcopal or Priestly function which at that time were questionless incompatible And then the meaning of the Canon will in fine be this that Bishops or inferiour Clergy-men might not be Consuls Praetors Generals or undergoe such publick Offices in the State of Rome as were most sought for and esteemed by the Gentiles there As for their jurisdiction over the inferiour Clergy as far as it is warranted by these Apostolick Canons it doth coââst especially in these particulars First there is granted and annexed unto them the power of Ordination and to them alone Can. Apost 2. The second Canon tells us so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Presbyter and Deacon and all other Clerks must be ordained by one Bishop And if a Bishop be required though but one in all the Presbyters have no authority at all of conferring Orders But of this before Being ordained they were accomptable in the next place to their Bishop in all things which concerned their Ministration without whose special leave and liking there were not only many things which they might not do but there was nothing in a manner to be done ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Can. 38. Ignat. ad Smyrnens Zonar in Can. Apost let them do nothing saith the Canon without the knowledge of the Bishops neither Baptize nor celebrate the Eucharist as Ignatius hath it of whom more anon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not repel any man from the Communion as it is in Zonaras But here the Canons speaking in another place they will tell you more particularly that if a Presbyter neglecting or contemning his own Bishop Can. 31. shall gather the People into a Conventicle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and erect another Altar for divine worship not being able to convict his Bishop of any impiety or injustice he is to be deposed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as an ambitious person seeking a preheminence that belonged not to him Finally so obnoxious were the Presbyters to the command and pleasure of their Bishop that they could not be admitted into any other City Can. 12. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without his letters testimonial and this on pain of Excommunication as well unto the Presbyter that should so depart Can. 15. as to the party that received him If any Presbyter or Deacon leaving the charge appointed to him shall go into another Diocess for so I think ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã must be read in this place and time and there abide without the allowance of his Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he is to be suspended ab officio especially if he return not presently on the Bishops summons More of this kind there is in those ancient Canons touching the Presbyters dependance on and plain subjection to their Bishop But I have instanced in such only as may be clearly justified by succeeding practice And so much of the Apostles Canons ascribed to Clemens From Clemens on to Evaristus his next successor in the government of the Church of Rome I know the Antiquaries of that Church have interloped an Anacletus between these two Iren. l. 3. cap. 3. and let them take him for their labour But when I find in Irenaeus who lived so near the times we speak of as to converse with those which were then alive when both these Bishops sate in the Church of Rome and when I find it in Eusebius Euseb hist Ec. l. 3. c. 28. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who with such care and diligence collected the successions of the Prelates in the greater Churches that Evaristus did immediately succeed this Clemens I shall desire to be excused if I prefer their testimony
he might prove in the Church of God did at another time as he passed through Palestine to go towards Greece ordain him Presbyter And this was done ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Eusebius by the Bishops there Euseb hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. 7. by the two Bishops formerly remembred no Presbyter concurring in it for ought there we find Yet when Demetrius moved with his wonted envy did not only what he could to disgrace the man but also sought to frame an accusation against those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. l. 6. c. 7. n. which had advanced him to the order of a Presbyter We do not find that he objected any thing against them as to the Act of Ordination but only as unto the irregularity of the person by reason of a corporal defect of his own procuring And on the other side when as Demetrius saw his time and found that some few passages in his many writings either by him or in his name at least set forth and published had made him liable unto danger obnoxious to the censures of the Church he did not only excommunicate him which had been enough either to right the Church or revenge himself but he prevailed with many other Churches also Hier. in Apo. l cont Ruffinum to confirm the sentence Ab eodem Demetrio Episcopo Alexandrino fuisse excommunicatione damnatum prolatamque in eum sententiam à caeteris quoque Ecclesiis ratam habitam as S. Hierom hath it Whereas before we had his Ordination performed only by the two Bishops of Caesarea and Hierusalem without the hands of any of the Presbyters and yet the Ordination good and valid the whole Church after reckoning him for a Presbyter without doubt or scruple so here we find him Excommunicated by one Bishop only without the votes or suffrages of the Presbyters or any shew or colour of it and yet the Church concurring with that Bishop though his ancient Enemy in confirmation of that censure So fully was the Church persuaded in the former times that these were parts of the Episcopal jurisdiction and authority that there was no objection made against this last though Origen had many friends and those great ones too nor nullity or invalidity in the first although Demetrius who by reason of his great place and power had made him many Enemies did except against it From that which doth occur concerning Origen in the Books and Works of other Writers proceed we unto that which doth occur concerning Bishops in the works of Origen And there we find in the first place the several Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons For speaking of those words of the Apostle He that desireth the Office of a Bishop desireth a good work he tells us this Origen in Mat. cap. 15. Talis igitur Episcopus non desiderat bonum opus that such a Bishop desireth not a good work who desireth the Office either to get glory amongst men or be flattered and courted by them or for the hope of gain from those which believe the Gospel and give large gifts in testimony of their Piety Then adds Idem vero de Presbyteris de Diaconis dices that the same is to be said of Presbyters and Deacons also Nor doth he only shew us though that were sufficient the several ranks and orders in the Hierarchy but also the ascent or degrees from the one to the other In Ecclesia Christi inveniuntur In the Church of Christ Orig. tract 24. in Mat. c. 23. saith he there are some men who do not only follow Feasts and them that make them but also love the chiefest places and labour much primùm ut Diaconi fiant first to be made Deacons not such as the Scripture describeth but such as under pretence of long Prayers devour Widdows houses And having thus been made Deacons cathedras eorum qui vocantur Presbyteri praeripere ambiunt they very greedily aspire to the chairs of those who are called Presbyters and some not therewithal content practise many ways ut Episcopi vocentur ab hominibus to have the place or name of Bishops which is as much to say as Rabbi And shortly after having endeavoured to depress this ambitious humour he gives this caveat that he who exalts himself shall be humbled which he desireth all men to take notice of but specially the Deacons Presbyters and Bishops which do not think those words to be spoken of them Here have we three degrees of Ministers in the Church of God one being a step unto the other whereof the Bishop is Supream in the highest place And not in place only but in power also and authority as being the men unto whose hands the keys were trusted by our Saviour Id. Tract 1. in Matth. For in another place he discourseth thus Quoniam ii qui Episcoporum locum sibi vendicant c. When they which challenge to themselves the place of Bishops do make the same confession that Peter did and have received from our Saviour the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven teaching that what they bind on Earth is bound in Heaven and what they loose in Earth is loosed in Heaven we must acknowledge that what they said is true if withal they have those things for which it was so said to Peter For if he be bound with the Chains of his own sins frustra vel ligat vel solvit in vain he takes upon him to bind or loose In the which words not taking notice of his errour seeming to make the efficacy of the Ministery to depend upon the merit of the Minister we find that in the time of Origen the dispensation of the Keys was the Bishops office This if it should not be sufficient to declare their power we may hear him in another place calling them Principes populi Christiani Id. in Mat. 19. Tractat. 12. the Princes of the Christian people blaming them such especially as lived in the greatest Cities in which he secretly upbraids the proud behaviour of Demetrius towards him for want of affability and due respect to their Inferiors And writing on these words of our Saviour Christ Who is that faithful and wise Servant Id. in Mat. 24. Tractat. 31. c. he applies them thus Peccat in Deum quicunque Episcopus qui non quasi conservis servus ministrat sed quasi Dominus That Bishop whosoever he be doth offend against God which doth not minister as a Servant to his Fellow-Servants but rather as a Lord amongst them yea and too often as a sharp and bitter Master domineering over them by violence remember how Demetrius used him like the Task-masters in the Land of Egypt afflicting the poor Israelites by force Finally as he doth acquaint us with their power and eminency so doth he tell us also of their care and service Id. Homil. 6. in Esaiam assuring us that he who is called unto the Office of a Bishop non
Adeo Argumenta ab absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus said Lactantius truly Now for my History and my proceedings in it that must next be known my business being to make good the matter of Fact that is to say that in all Ages of the Church there hath been an imparity of Ministers that the chief of these Ministers was called the Bishop that this Bishop had the Government of all Presbyters and other Christian people within his Circuit and finally that the powers of Jurisdiction and Ordination were vested in him In which particulars if the Affirmative be maintain'd by sufficient evidence it will be very difficult if not impossible to prove the Negative And for the better making good of the Affirmative I have called in the ancient Writers the holy Fathers of the Church to testifie unto the truth of what is here said either as writing on those Texts of Scripture in which the Institution and Authority the Church in their several times in the Administration and Government whereof they had most of them some special interess Their Testimonies and Authorities I have fully pondered and alledged as fully not misreporting any of them in their words or meaning according to the best of my understanding as knowing well and having seen experience of it that such false shifts are like hot waters which howsoever they may serve for a present pang do in the end destroy the stomach And for those holy and renowned Authors thus by me produced I desire no more but that we yieldas much Authority unto them in Expounding Scripture as we would do to any of the Modern writers on the like occasion and that we would not give less credit to their Affirmations speaking of things that hapned in their own times and were within the compass of their observation than we would do to any honest Country Yeoman speaking his knowledg at the Bar between man and man And finally that in relating such orrurrences of Holy Church as hapned in the times before them we think them worthy of as much belief as we would give to Livy Tacitus or Suetonius reporting the Affairs of Rome from the Records Monuments and Discourses of the former times This is the least we can afford those Reverened Persons whether we find them acting in publick Councils or speaking in their own private and particular Writings and if I gain but this I have gained my purpose I hope to meet with no such Readers as Peter Abeilard of whom Saint Bernard tells us that he used to say Omnes Patres sic ego autem non sic though all the Fathers hold one way he would hold the contrary To such if any such there be I shall give no other answer at this time but what Dr. Saravia gave to Beza in this very case viz. Qui omnem Patribus adimit Authoritatem nullam sibi relinquit that is to say He which takes all Authority from the ancient Fathers will in fine leave none unto himself I should proceed next to the Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons the Stewards which the Lord hath set over his Houshold the ordinary Dispensers of Mysteries of Eternal life which like the Angels ascending and de scending upon Jacobs Ladder offer the People Prayers to God and signifie Gods good pleasure and commands to the rest of the People Offices not to be invaded or usurp'd by any who are not lawfully Ordained that is to say who are not inwardly prompted and inclined unto it by the Holy Spirit outwardly set apart and consecrated to Gods publick service by Prayer and imposition of Hands A point so clear as to the Designation of some persons unto sacred Offices that it hath been universally received in all times and Nations The sanctifying of the Tribe of Levi for the service of the Tabernacle amongst the Jews the instituting of so many Colledges of Priests for the service of their several Gods by the ancient Gentiles Acts 13. v. 2. the Separating of Paul and Barnabas to the work of the Ministery in the first dawnings of the Gospel sufficiently evidence this truth And no less clear it is as to the Laying on of Hands in that Sacred action retained since the Apostles times in all Christian Churches at the least deservedly so called And this the Presbyterian-Calvinists saw well enough who though profest Adversaries to all the old Orders of the Church do notwithstanding admit none amongst them to the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments but by the Laying on of the Hands of their Presbyteries But if it be objected that there is no such thing required by the Ordinance of approbation of publick Ministers bearing date March 20. 1653. I answer that that Ordinance relateth not to Ordination but to Approbation and Admission it being supposed that no Man is presented to any Benefice with cure of souls or unto any publick Lecture and being so presented craves to have Admission thereunto who is not first lawfully Ordained That Ordinance was made for no other end but to great Admission to such fit persons as were nominated and presented to them and thereby to supply the place of Institution and Induction which had been formerly required by the Laws of the Land And therefore the said Ordinance declares very well that in such Approbations and Admissions there is nothing sacred no setting apart of any Person to a particular Office in the Ministery that being the sole and proper work of Ordination but only by such trial and approbation to take care that places destitute may be supplyed with able and faithful Preachers throughout the Nation The Question is not then about Ordination or about Laying on of Hands in which all agree but what it is which makes the Ordination lawful whose Hands they are which make it to be held Canonical The Genevians and the rest of Calvins Discipline challenge this power to their Presbyteries a mungrel company not heard of till these latter times consisting of two Lay-elders for each preaching Minister The Lutherans with better reason appropriate it to their Superintendents which in their Churches execute the place of Bishops But all Antiquity Councils Fathers the general usage of the Churches of the East and West with those also of the Aethiopian or Habassine Empire carry it clearly for the Bishop who hath alone the power to Ordain and Consecrate and by the imposition of Hands to set apart some Men to the publick Ministery though he call in some Presbyters as Assistants to him Saint Jerom no great friend to Bishops doth acknowledg this Quid facit Episcopus excepta Ordinatione quod Presbyter non faciat What doth a Bishop saith the Father but what a Presbyter may do also except Ordination And to the disquisition of these Canonical Ordinations I shall next proceed as hath been promised in the Title But I have said so much to that Point in the Course of the History as Part 1. Cap. 2. Num. 11 12. Cap. 4. Num. 2,3 Cap. 5.
we may see by what Authority they proceed in their Constitutions and then declare what was acted by the Clergy in that Reformation In which I shall begin with the ejection of the Pope and setling the Supremacy in the Crown Imperial of this Realm descending next to the Translation of the Scriptures into the English tongue the Reformation of the Church in Doctrinals and forms of Worship and to proceed unto the Power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the direction of the people in the exercise of their Religion concluding with an Answer to all such Objections by what part soever they be made as are most material And in the canvassing of these points I doubt not but it will appear unto you that till these late busie and unfortunate times in which every man intrudeth on the Priestly Function the Parliaments did nothing at all either in making Canons or in matters Doctrinal or in Translation of the Scriptures Next that That little which they did in reference to the Forms and Times of Worship was no more than the inflicting of some temporal or legal penalties on such as did neglect the one or not conform unto the other having been first digested and agreed upon in the Clergy way And finally that those Kings and Princes before remembred by whose Authority the Parliaments did that little in those Forms and Times did not act any thing in that kind themselves but what was warranted unto them by the Word of God and the example of such godly and religious Emperors and other Christian Kings and Princes as flourished in the happiest times of Christianity This is the sum of my design which I shall follow in the order before laid down assuring you that when you shall acquaint me with your other scruples I will endeavour what I can for your satisfaction 1. Of calling or assembling the Convocation of the Clergy and the Authority thereof when convened together AND in this we are first to know that anciently the Arch-bishop of the several Provinces of Canterbury and York were vested with a power of Convocating the Clergy of their several and respective Provinces when and as often as they thought it necessary for the Churches peace And of this power they did make Use upon all extraordinary and emergent cases either as Metropolitans and Primates in their several Provinces or as Legati nati to the Popes of Rome But ordinarily and of common course especially after the first passing of the Acts or Statutes of Praemuniri they did restrain that power to the good pleasure of the Kings under whom they lived and used it not but as the necessities and occasions of these Kings or the distresses of the Church did require it of them and when it was required of them the Writ or Precept of the King was in this form following Rex c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri N. Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Apostolicae sedis Legato salutem Quibusdam ardius urgentibus negotiis defensionem securitatem Ecclesiae Anglicanae ac pacem tranquillitatem bonum publicum defensionem Regni nostri subditorum nostrorum ejusdem concernentibus Vobis in Fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini rogando mandamus quatenus praemissis debito intuito attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos vestrae Provinciae ac Decanos Priores Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Abbates Priores alios Electivos exemptos non exemptos nec non Archidiaconos Conventus Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioceseos ejusdem Provinciae ad conveniendum coram vobis in Ecclesia Sancti Pauli London vel alibi prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommoda modo debito Convocari faciatis Ad tractandum consentiendum concludendum super praemissis aliis quae sibi clarius proponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra Et hoc sicut nos statum Regni nostri ac honorem utilitatem Ecclesiae praedictae diligitis nullatenus omittatis Teste meipso c. These are the very words of the antient Writs and are still retained in these of later times but that the Title of Legatus sedis Apostolicae then used in the Arch-bishops style was laid aside together with the Pope himself and that there is no mention in them of Abbots Priors and Convents as being now not extant in the Church of England And in this Writ you may observe first that the calling of the Bishops and Clergy of the Province of Canterbury to a Synodical Assembly belonged to the Arch-bishop of that Province only the like to him of York also within the Sphere or Verge of his Jurisdiction Secondly that the nominating of the time and place for this Assembly was left to the Arch-bishops pleasure as seemed best unto him though for the most part and with reference unto themselves and the other Prelates who were bound to attend the service of the King in Parliament they caused these Meetings to be held at the time and place at and to which the Parliament was or had been called by the Kings Authority Thirdly That from the word Convocari used in the Writ the Synodical Meetings of the Clergy were named Convocations And fourthly That the Clergy thus assembled in Convocation had not only a power of treating on and consenting unto such things as should be there propounded on the Kings behalf but a power also of concluding or not concluding on the same as they saw occasion Not that they were restrained only to such points as the King propounded or were proposed in his behalf to their consideration but that they were to handle his business with their own wherein they had full power when once met together In the next place we must behold what the Arch-bishop did in pursuance of the Kings command for calling the Clergy of his Province to a Convocation who on the receipt of the King 's Writ presently issued out his Mandate to the Bishop of London Dean by his place of the whole Colledge of Bishops of that Province requiring him immediately on the sight hereof and of the King 's Writ incorporated and included in it to cite and summon all the Bishops and other Prelates Deans Arch-Deacons and capitular Bodies with the whole Clergy of that Province that they the said Bishops Deans arch-Arch-Deacons in their own persons the Capitular Bodies by one Procurator and the Clergy of each Diocess by two do appear before him at the time and place by him appointed and that those Procurators shouldbe furnished with sufficient powers by those which sent them not only to treat upon such points as should be propounded touching the peace of the Church and defence and welfare of the Realm of England and to give their counsel in the same sed ad consentiendum iis quae ibidem ex communi deliberatione ad honorem Dei Ecclesiae in praemissis contigerent
concorditer ordinari but also to consent both in their own names and in the names of those who sent them unto all such things as by mature deliberation and consent should be there ordained Which Mandate being received by the B. of London the several Bishops cited accordingly and intimation given by those Bishops unto their Arch Deacons for summoning the Clergy to make choice of their Procurators as also the Chapters or capitular Bodies to do the like The next work is to proceed to the choice of those Procurators Which choice being made the said Chapters under their common seals and the said Clergy in a publick Writing subscribed by them do bind themselves sub Hypotheca omnium bonorum suorum under the pawn and forfeiture of al their goods moveable and immoveable I speak the very words of these publick Instruments se ratum gratum acceptum habere quicquid dicti Procuratores sui nomine vice suis fecerint c. To stand to and perform whatsoever their said Procurators in their name and stead shall do determine and consent to The like is also done in the Province of York but that the Arch-bishop thereof sends out the Summons in his own name to the Suffragan Bishops the Province being small and the Suffragans not above three in number Finally as the Convocations of the Clergy in their several Provinces were called by the Arch-bishops only the Kings Writ thereunto requiring and authorizing so by the same powers were they also dissolved again when they had done the business they were called about or did desire to be dismissed to their own affairs At which time by special Writ or Mandates to the said Arch-bishops expressing the calling and assembling of the Convocation by vertue of the former Precept it is declared That on certain urgent causes and considerations moving his Majesty thereunto he thought fit with the advice of his Privy Councel that the same should be again dissolved Et ideo vobis mandamus quod eandem praesentem Convocationem hac instanti die debito modo sine ulla dilatione dissolvatis sive dissolvi faciatis prout convenit and therefore did command them to dissolve it or cause the same to be dissolved in the accustomed manner without delay Which Writ received and not before the Convocation was dissolved accordingly and so it holds in Law and practcie to this very day I have the longer staid on these publick Forms partly because not obvious unto every eye but especially to let you see by what Authority the Clergy are to be assembled in their Convocations and what it is which makes their Canons and Conclusions binding unto all those which send them thither or intrust them there Their calling by the Kings Authority makes their meeting lawful which else were liable to exceptions and disputes in Law and possibly might render them obnoxious to some grievous penalties and so would their continuance too after the Writ was issed for their Dissolution As on the contrary their breaking or dissolving of their own accord would make them guilty of contempt and consequently subject to the Kings displeasure for being called by the Kings Writ they are to continue till dissolved by the Kings Writ also notwithstanding the dissolving of the Parliament with which sometimes it might be summoned And so it was resolved in terminis by the chief Judges of the Realm and others of his Majesties Counsel Learned May 10. anno 1640. at such time as the Convocations did continue sitting the Parliament being most unhappily dissolved on the Tuesday before subscribed by Finch Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Manchester then Lord Privy Seal Littleton chief Justice of the Common Pleas Banks Atturney General Whitfield and Heath his Majesties Sergeants Authority enough for the poor Clergy to proceed on though much condemned and maligned for obedience to it Now as they have the Kings Authority not only for their Meeting but continuance also so also have they all the power of the whole National Clergy of England to make good whatsoever they conclude upon The arch-Arch-Bishops Deans arch-Arch-Deacons acting in their own capacities the Procurators in the name and by the power committed to them both by he Chapters or capitular Bodies and the Diocesan Clergy of both Provinces And this they did by virtue of that power and trust alone without any ratification or confirmation from King or Parliament until the 25th year of King Henry the VIII At which time they bound themselves by a Synodical Act whereof more hereafter not to enact promulge or execute any Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial in their Convocations for time coming unless the Kings Highness by his Royal Assent command them to make promulge and execute the same accordingly Before this time they acted absolutely in their Convocations of their own Authority the Kings Assent neither concurring nor required and by this sole Authority which they had in themselves they did not only make Canons declare Heresie convict and censure persons suspected of Heresie in which the subjects of all sorts whose Votes were tacitely included in the suffrages of their Pastors and spiritual Fathers were concerned alike But also to conclude the Clergy whom they represented in the point of Property imposing on them what they pleased and levying it by Canons of their own enacting And they enjoyed this power to the very day in which they tendred the submission which before we spake of For by this self-authority if I may so call it they imposed and levied that great Subsidy of 120000 l. an infinite sum as the Standard of the times then was granted unto K. Henry VIII anno 1530. to free them from the fear and danger of the Praemuniri By this the Benefit of the Chapter called Similiter in the old Provincial extended formerly to the University of Oxon only was made communicable the same year unto Cambridge also By this Crome Latimer Bilney and divers others were in the year next following impeached of Heresie By this the Will and Testament of William Tracie of Toddington was condemned as scandalous and heretical and his body taken up and burnt not many days before the passing of the Act of Submission anno 1532. But this power being thought too great or inconsistent at least with the Kings Design touching his divorce the Clergy were reduced unto such a straight by the degrees and steps which you find in the following Section as to submit their power unto that of the King and to promise in verbo sacerdotii that they would do and Enact nothig in their Convocations without his consent And to the gaining of this point he was pressed the rather in regard of a Remonstraence then presented to Him by the House of Commons in which they shewed themselves aggrieved that the Clergy of this Realm should act Authoritatively and supremely in the Convocations and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal Assent Which notwithstanding though this
Judaic l. 12. as Josephus hath it which cometh to seventy two in all But both the seventy two Elders are generally called the Seventy as the Translators of the Bible are called the Septuagint both of them ad rotundationem numeri even as the Magistrates in Rome were called Centumviri though being three for every Tribe they came unto an hundred and five in all Calvin in harm Evang. ut supra And this is that which Calvin hath observed in the present business viz. that the Consistory of the Jewish Judges to which the number of the Disciples is by him proportioned consisted of no less than 72 though for the most part ut fieri solet in talibus numeris they are called the Seventy So then to reconcile the Latin with the Greek Original there were in all 72 Disciples according to the truth of the calculation and yet but seventy in account according to the estimation which was then in use And therefore possibly the Church of England the better to comply with both computations though it have seventy in the new Translations yet still retains the number of seventy two in the Gospel appointed for Saint Lukes day in the book of Common-prayer confirmed by Parliament This being the number of the Disciples it will then fall out that as there were six Elders for every Tribes so here will be six Presbyters or Elders for every one of the Apostles For those which have compared the Church of Christ which was first planted by the Apostles with that which was first founded by the Lord himself resemble the Bishops in the Church to the twelve Apostles the Presbyters or Priests unto the Seventy Which parallel how well it holdeth and whether it will hold or not we shall see hereafter Mean while it cannot be denied but that the Apostles were superiour to these Seventy both in place and power The Fathers have so generally affirmed the same that he must needs run cross unto all antiquity that makes question of it The Council of Neocaesarea which was convened some years before that of Nice Leo Ep. 88. declareth that the Chorepiscopi which were but Presbyters in fact though in Title Bishops ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Concil Neocasar 1. Can. 13. were instituted according to the pattern of the Seventy Saint Hierom in his Tractate ad Fabiolam speaking of the twelve fountains of Elim and the seventy Psalms that grew thereby doth resolve it thus Nec dubium quin de duodeeim Apostolis sermo sit c. It is not to be doubted but that the Scripture speaketh here of the twelve Apostles the waters issuing from whose fountains have moistned the barren driness of the whole World and that the seventy Psalms that grew thereby are the Teachers of the second rank or order Luca testante duodecim fuisse Apostolos septuaginta Discipulos minoris gradus Saint Luke affirming that there were twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples of a lower order whom the Lord sent two and two before him In this conceit Saint Ambrose led the way before him likening unto those Psalms the Seventy qui secundo ab Apostolis gradu who in a second rank from the Apostles were by the Lord sent forth for the salvation of mankind Serm. 24. Damasus their co-temporary doth affirm as much viz. non amplius quam duos ordines Epist 5. that there were but two Orders amongst the Disciples of Christ viz. that of the twelve Apostles and the Seventy Theophylact concurrs with Hierom in his conceit about the twelve Fountains and the seventy Palm-trees and then concludes Theoph. in Luc. 10. that howsoever they were chosen by Christ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet were they inferiour to the twelve and afterwards their followers and Scholars Add hereunto the testimony and consent of Calvin who giving the preheminence unto the Apostles Calvin in Institut l. 4. c. 3. § 4. as the chief builders of the Church adds in the next place the Evangelists such as were Timothy and Titus fortassis etiam septuaginta Discipuli quos secundo ab Apostolis loco Dominus designavit and peradventure also the seventy Disciples whom Christ appointed in the second place after his Apostles Besides S. Hierom giveth it for a Maxim Qui provehitur Ep. ad Oceanum de minore ad majus provehitur that he which is promoted is promoted from a lower rank unto an higher Matthias therefore having been formerly of the Seventy and afterwards advanced into the rank and number of the Twelve in the place of Judas it must needs follow that the twelve Apostles shined in an higher sphere than these lesser luminaries Now that Matthias had before been one of the seventy appeareth by the concurrent testimonies of Euseb l. 1. Eccles Hist c. 12. l. 2. cap. 1. and of Epiphanius contr haeres 20. n. 4. to whom for brevity sake I refer the Reader And this the rather because the Scripture is so full and pregnant in it it being a condition or qualification if you will required by S. Peter in those that were the Candidates for so high a Dignity Acts 1. v. 21. that they accompanied the Apostles all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them And that we know none did but the Seventy only So then it is most clear and manifest both by authority of Scripture and consent of Fathers that our Saviour instituted in his Church two ranks of Ministers the one subordinate unto the other and consequently laid the first foundations of it in such a Fatherly and moderate imparity as bound all following times and ages that would not willingly oppose so Divine an Ordinance to observe the like And yet it is not to be thought that this superiority thus by him established doth contradict those other passages of holy Scripture wherein he doth prohibit all dominion over one another They much mistake the business who conceive it so The Jews in general and all the followers of Christ particularly expected that the promised Messiah should come with power restore again the lustre of the Jewish Kingdom and free them from that yoke and bondage which by the Romans had been laid upon them We thought said Cleophas that this had been he that should have delivered Israel Acts 24.21 And what he thought was solemnly expected by all the rest Acts 1.6 Domine si in tempore hoc restitues regnum Israel Lord say they even in the very moment of his Ascension wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom unto Israel Upon which fancy and imagination no marvail if they harboured some ambitious thought every one hoping for the nearest places both of power and trust about his person This was the greatness which they aimed at and this our Saviour laboured to divery them from by interdicting all such power and Empire as Princes and the favourites of Princes have upon their Vassals Ye know saith he that the Princes of the
to direct the action whose business indeed it was and unto whom alone the whole election properly pertained All that they did was to propose two men unto the Lord their God Et statuerunt duos Act. 1.23 saith the Text such as they thought most fit for so great a charge and so to leave it to his providence to shew and manifest which of the two he pleased to choose In the appointment of which two whether that statuerunt being a Verb of the Plural number be to be referred to all the multitude as Chrysostom is of opinion or only unto the Apostles and the Seventy as some others think it comes all to one For the whole number being but an hundred and twenty Act. 1.15 and being that the Apostles with the Seventy out of which rank the nomination of the two was made made up the number of fourscore it must needs be that the appointment in effect was in them alone And though I rather do incline to Chrysostom in this particular that the appointment of these two was done by all the multitude in general Chrysost in hom 3. in Act. yet I can yield by no means to the next that followeth For shewing some politick and worldly reasons why Peter did permit the people to have an interest in the business he first asked this question ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whether it were not lawful for Saint Peter to have chose the man And then he answereth positively ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it was most lawful but that he did forbear to do it lest he might seem to do it out of partiality In this I must crave leave to dissent from Chrysostom The power of making an Apostle was too high a priviledge to be intrusted unto any of the Sons of Adam 1 Cor. 15. Galat. 1.1 Paul was not made Apostle though an Abortive one as he calls himself either of men or by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father What priviledge or power soever Peter had as an Apostle of the Lord in making Bishops or as a Bishop of the Church in ordaining Presbyters he had no power to make Apostles The Pope might sing Placebo if it had been otherwise and we should have Apostles more than ten times twelve if nothing were required unto it but Saint Peters Fiat But to proceed This weighty business being thus dispatched Epiphan haeres 20. n. 4. and Matthias who before was of the Seventy being numbred with the eleven Apostles it pleased God to make good his promise of pouring on them in a plentiful and signal manner the gifts and graces of his holy Spirit Not on the Twelve alone or the Seventy only but on the whole body of the Disciples even on the whole 120. which before we spake of I know that Beza and some others would limit this effusion of the Holy Ghost to the Twelve alone Why and to what intent he doth so resolve it though I may guess perhaps yet I will not judge but sure it is he so resolves it Beza in Act. 2. Solis Apostolis propria est haec Spiritus sancti missio sicut proprius fuit Apostolatus as his own words are in his Annotations on the Text. The same he also doth affirm in his Book de Ministrorum Evangelii gradibus cap. 5. But herein Beza leaves the Fathers and the Text to boot Saint Austin tells us that the Holy Ghost came from Heaven Tract 2. in ep Johannis Hom. 4. in Act. c. 2. implevit uno loco sedentes centum viginti and filled one hundred and twenty sitting in one place Saint Chrysostom affirms the same ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. what saith he did it come on the twelve alone not upon the rest And then he answereth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not so by no means it fell on all the 120 which were there Assembled Nor doth he only say it but he proves it also alledging in defence of his assertion that very plea and argument which was used by Peter to clear himself and his associates from the imputation of being drunken with new wine Act. 2.16 viz. Hoc est quod dictum fuit per Prophetam Joel This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh c. Besides the text and context make it plain enough that this effusion of the Holy Ghost was upon them all Act. 1.14 In the first Chapter of the Acts we find them all together the whole 120. with one accord And in the first verse of the second Chapter we find them all together with the same accord And then it followeth that there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire seditque supra singulos eorum Act. 2.3 4. and sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost If they were all together as we found before and all were filled with the Holy Ghost No question but there were more filled with it than the twelve Apostles And when as Peter with the eleven stood up making an Apology for the rest and saying These men are not drunken Act. 2.14 15. as ye suppose it must needs be that others besides the twelve and indeed all the company were suspected of it Add as by way of surplusage and ex abundanti that the Seven chosen by the multitude to serve the Tables who questionless were of the number of the Seventy are said to have been full of the Holy Ghost Epiphan haeres 20. n. 4. Act. 6.3 before that the Apostles had laid hands on them So then it is most evident as I conceive it that the Holy Ghost was given to every one of the Disciples the whole number of them to every one according to his place and station according to that service and imployment in which the Lord intended to make use of them For unto one was given by the spirit the word of Wisdom 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. to another the word of Knowledge and to another the gift of healing by the same spirit to another the working of Miracles to another Prophesie to another discerning of Spirits to another divers kinds of Tongues to another the interpretation of Tongues Every one of them had their several gifts the Apostles all ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hom. 32. in 1. ad Cor. c. 12. as we read in Chrysostom Whatever was divided amongst the residue for the advancement of Gods glory and the improvement of his Church that was united in the persons of the holy Apostles whom God had ranked as much above them in their gifts and graces as they were in place By means whereof it came to pass that howsoever the Lord out of these 120 made choice of some to be Evangelists some to be Prophets and others to be Pastors Presbyters and Teachers yet the Apostles still retained their superiority ordering and directing them in their several Ministeries
besides the Church of Rome before remembred We find Epaphroditus not he that is commemorated by S. Paul In Annal. Eccles A. 60. Rom. Martyr Mart. 22. April 3. Jun. 4. Julii 12. Julii 12. Julii 23. Chrys serm 128. in his Epistle to the Philippians as Baronius witnesseth against himself à beato Petro Apostolo Episcopus illius Civitatis ordinatus made Bishop by S. Peter of Tarracina of old called Anxur Pancratius made by S. Peter Bishop of Tauromenium in the Isle of Sicily as the Greeks also do affirm in their Menologia Marcianus Bishop of Syracusa to whom the said Menologies do bear record also Hermagoras a Disciple of S. Mark the first Bishop of Aquileia now in the Signeurie of Venice Panlinus the first Bishop of Luques in Tuscanie Apollinaris created by S. Peter the first Bishop of Ravenna in praise of whom Chrysologus one of his Successors and an holy Father hath composed a Panegyrick Marcus ordained Bishop of Atina at S. Peters first coming into Italy Rom. Martyr Apr. 28. Novemb. 7. Sept. 1. Octob. 25. Jan. 27. Acts. Martyrol Rom. Decem. 29. And last of all Prosdocimus the first Bishop of Padua à Beato Petro ordinatus made Bishop thereof by S. Peter Next to pass over into France we find there Xystus the first Bishop of Rhemes and Fronto Bishop of Perigort Petragorricis ordained both by this Apostle As also Julianus the first Bishop of Mayne Cononiensium in the Latine of his Ordination And besides these we read that Trophimus once one of S. Pauls Disciples was by S. Peter made the first Bishop of Arles And this besides the Martyrologies and other Authors cited by Baronius in his Annotations appeareth by that memorable controversie in the time of Pope Leo before the Bishop of Vienna the chief City of Daulphine and him of Arles for the place and dignity of Metropolitan In prosecution of the which it is affirmed by the Suffragans Epist contr Provinc ad S. Leonem in fine lib. or Com-provincial Bishops of the Province of Arles Quod prima inter Gallias Arelatensis Civitas missum à Beatissimo Petro Apostolo Sauctum Trophimum habere meruit Sacerdotem that first of all the Cities of Gaul that of Arles did obtain the happiness to have Saint Trophimus for their Bishop for so Sacerdos must be read in that whole Epistle sent to them from the most blessed Apostle S. Peter to preach the Gospel For Spain we find this testimony once for all that Ctesiphon Torquatus Secundus Caecilius Judaletius Hesychius Rom. Martyr Maij 15. and Euphrasius Romae à Sanctis Apostolis Episcopi ordinati ad praedicandum verbum Dei in Hispanias directi Having been ordained Bishops at Rome by the Apostles viz. S. Peter and S. Paul were sent unto Spain to preach the Gospel and in most likelihood were Bishops of those Cities in which they suffered the names whereof occur in the Martyrologie If we pass further into Germany we may there see Eucherius one of S. Peters Disciples also by him employed to preach the Gospel to that Nation which having done with good effect in the City of Triers Primus ejusdem Civitatis Episcopus Decemb. 8. he was made the first Bishop of that City And unto this Methodius also doth attest Ap. Mar. Scotum in An. 72.74 as he is cited by Marianus Scotus who tells us that after he had held the Bishoprick 23 years Valerio Trevericae Ecclesiae culmen dereliquit he left the government of that Church unto Valerius who together with Maternus both being Disciples of Saint Peper did attend him thither and that Maternus after fifteen years did succeed Valerius continuing Bishop there 40 years together I should much wrong our part of Britain should I leave out that as if neglected by the Apostle concerning which we are informed by Metaphrastes whose credit hath been elsewhere vindicated that this Apostle coming into Britain Commem Petri Pauli ad diem 29 Junii and tarrying there a certain time and enlightning many with the word of grace ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did constitute Churches and ordain Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the same Which action as he placeth in the twelfth year of Nero being the 67. of our Redeemer so he professeth that he had his information out of some writings of Eusebius which have not come unto our hands but with a great deal more of that Authors works have perished in the ruins and wrack of time Nor is it strange that the Apostle should make so many of his Disciples Bishops before or shortly after they were sent abroad to gain the nations to the Faith Beda hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. that being the usual course in the like imployments as may appear by Austins being consecrated Bishop immediately after his first coming into England The reason was as I conceive it that if God prospered their endeavours with desired success they might be furnished with a power of ordaining Presbyters for their assistance in that service And so much for the Churches planted by Saint Peter and by his Disciples CHAP. IV. The Bishoping of Timothy and Titus and others of Saint Pauls Disciples 1. The Conversion of Paul and his ordaining to the place of an Apostle 2. The Presbyters created by Saint Paul Act. 14. of what sort they were 3. Whether the Presbyters or Presbytery did lay on hands with Paul in any of his Ordinations 4. The people had no voice in the Election of their Presbyters in these early times 5. Bishops not founded by S. Paul at first in the particular Churches by him planted and upon what reasons 6. The short time of the Churches of S. Pauls plantation continued without Bishops over them 7. Timothy made Bishop of Ephesus by S. Paul according to the general consent of Fathers 8. The time when Timothy was first made Bishop according to the Holy Scripture 9. Titus made Bishop of the Cretans and the truth verified herein by the ancient Writers 10. An Answer unto such Objections as have been made against the Subscription of the Epistle unto Titus 11. The Bishopping of Dionysius the Areopagite Aristarchus Gaius Epaphroditus Epaphras and Archippus 12. As also of Silus Sosthenes Sosipater Crescens and Aristobulus 13. The Office of a Bishop not incompatible with that of an Evangelist WE are now come unto S. Paul and to the Churches by him planted where we shall meet with clearer evidence from Scripture than before we had A man that did at first most eagerly afflict the poor Church of Christ as if it were the destiny not of David only but also of the Son of David to be persecuted by the hands of Saul Rhemist Testam Act. 15. But as the Rhemists well observe that the contention between Paul and Barnabas fell out unto the great increase of Christianity So did this persecution raised by Saul fall out unto the great improvement of the Gospel For by this means the Disciples being
their hands for none but they were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the present business the whole election of these Presbyters must be given to them But indeed it was neither so nor so Neither the Apostle nor the People had any hand in the elections of those times but the Spirit of God which evidently did design and mark out those men whom God intended to imploy in his holy Ministery The words of Paul to Timothy make this clear enough where it is said Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophesie 1 Tim. 4.14 1 Tim. 1.18 c. and that there went some Prophesies before concerning Timothy the same Saint Paul hath told us in the first Chapter of that first Epistle Hom. 5. in 1. ad Tim. c. 1. Chrysostom notes upon these words that in those times ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Priests and Ministers of God were made by Prophesie that is saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Holy Ghost And this he proves by the selection of Paul and Barnabas to the work of God which was done by Prophesie and by the Spirit And finally glossing on those words Noli negligere gratiam c. he doth thus express it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God saith he did elect thee to this weighty charge he hath committed no small part of his Church unto thee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã no mortal man had any hand in that designation and therefore take thou beed that thou disgrace not nor dishonour so Divine a calling More might be said both from Theodoret and Oecumenius to confirm this Truth Theodor. Oecum in locum but that I think it is sufficiently confirmed already So then the Presbyters of these times being of Gods special choice his own designation and those upon the laying on of such holy hands furnished by the Spirit with such gifts and graces as might enable them sufficiently to discharge their calling The marvel is the less if in those early days at the first dawning as it were of Christianity we find so little speech of Bishops In the ordaining of these Presbyters as also of the like in other places the Apostles might and did no question communicate unto them such and so much Authority as might invest them with a power of government during the times of their own necessary absence from those several Churches So that however they were Presbyters in degree and order yet they both were and might be trusted with an Episcopal jurisdiction in their several Cities even as some Deans although but simply Presbyters are with us in England And of this rank I take it were the Presbyters in the Church of Ephesus Act. 20.28 whom the Apostle calleth by the name of Bishops that is to say Presbyters by their Order and Degree but Bishops in regard of their jurisdiction Such also those ordained by Saint Paul in the Church of Philippos Phil. 1.1 whom the Apostle mentioneth in the very entrance of his Epistle to that people Which as it may be some occasion why Bishops properly so called were not ordained by the Apostles in the first planting of some Churches so there are other reasons alledged for it and are briefly these For first although the Presbyters in those times were by the Holy Ghost endued with many excellent gifts and graces requisite to the Preaching of the Word yet the Apostles might not think fit to trust them with the chief government till they had fully seen and perfectly made tryal of their abilities and parts that way Epiphan adv haeres 75. n. 5. And this is that which Epiphanius meaneth in his dispute against Aerius saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. that where there were no fit men to discharge that Office the place remained without a Bishop but where necessity required and that there wanted not fit men to supply the place there Bishops forthwith were appointed But that which I conceive to be the principal reason was this that the Apostle did reserve unto himself the chief Authority in all the Churches of his planting so long as he continued in or about those places And this he exercised either by personal Visitations mention whereof is made in the 14.21 and 15.36 of the Book of Acts or else by his rescripts and mandates as in his sentencing of the incestuous Corinthian although absent thence But when he was resolved to take a journey to Hierusalem Act. 19.21 and from thence to Rome not knowing when he should return to those Eastern parts and knowing well that multitude of governours do oft breed confusions and that equality of Ministers did oft end in factions he then resolved to give them Bishops to place a Chief in and above each several Presbytery over every City committing unto them that power aswell of Ordinations as inflicting censures which he had formerly reserved to himself alone This great Apostle as for some space of time he taught the Church without help of Presbyters so for another while he did rule the same without help of Bishops A time there was wherein there were no Bishops but the Apostles only to direct the Church and so there was a time wherein there were no Presbyters but they to instruct the same However it must be confessed that there was a time in which some Churches had no Bishops And this Hieron in Tit. c. 1. if any was the time that Saint Hierom speaks of Cum communi Presbyterorum consilio ecclesiae gubernabantur when as the Churches were governed by the common counsel of the Presbyters But sure it was so short a time that had not the good Father taken a distaste against Episcopacy by reason of some differences which he had with John the Bishop of Hierusalem he could not easily have observed it For whether Bishops were ordained Id. ad Evagrium In Schismatis remedium as he saith elsewhere for the preventing of those Schisms and factions which were then risen in the Church or that they were appointed by the Apostles to supply their absence when they withdrew themselves unto further Countreys This government of the Church in common by the Presbyters will prove of very short continuance For from the first planting of the Church in Corinth Baronius so computes it Annal. Hieron in Titâm c. 1. which was in Anno 53. unto the writing of his first Epistle to that Church and people in which he doth complain of the Schisms amongst them was but four whole years And yet it doth appear by that place in Hierom for ought can see that the divisions of the people in Religion some saying I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas every one cleaving unto him by whom he had received Baptism were the occasion that it was decreed throughout the world as that Father saith Vt unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris that one of the Presbyters should be set over the rest to whom
Craec in Martii 14. was by him ordained Bishop of Britain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the words there are a region full of fierce and savage people and that having there setled the Church and ordained Presbyters and Deacons in the same he did there also end his life The Reverend Primate of Armagh out of a fragment attributed to Heleca De Britannic Eccl. prim c. 1. sometimes Bishop of Saragossa in Spain doth recite a passage wherein it is affirmed of this Aristobulus missum in Angliam Episcopum that he was sent Bishop into England for so the Author calleth this Countrey according to the name it had when he writ the same But these things which relate to the British Churches I rather shall refer to our learned Antiquaries to be considered of more fully than affirm any thing my self But to look back on Timothy and Titus whom we left lately in their several Churches I hear it said that notwithstanding all those proofs before produced from the ancient yet being Evangelists as they were they could be no Bishops Smectymn p. 48. Bishops being tied to the particular care of that flock or Church over which God had made them Overseers but the Evangelists being Planetary sent up and down from place to place by the Apostles as the necessities of the Church required Besides that moving in an higher sphere than that of Bishops and being Co-partners with Saint Paul in his Apostleship or Apostolical function Unbishopping of Tim. Tit. p. 36. it had been a devesting of themselves of their Apostolical jurisdiction and preheminence to become Bishops at the last and so descend from a superiour to an inferiour Office For answer whereunto we need say but this that the gift of being an Evangelist might and did fall on any rank of ordinary Ministers as might that also of the Prophet Philip one of the seven a Deacon as it is generally conceived but howsoever Ministring unto the Church in an inferiour place or Office was notwithstanding an Evangelist and Agabus though perhaps but a simple Presbyter one of the Seventy past all question was a Prophet too Philip as he was one of the Seven was tied to a particular employment and of necessity sometimes Acts 6.12 must leave the Word of God to serve Tables Yet the same Philip as he was furnished by the Lord with gifts and graces for gaining Souls to God Almighty and doing the work of an Evangelist must leave the serving of those Tables to preach the Word And Agabus Acts 11.27 28. 21.10 if he were a Presbyter whether of Hierusalem from whence he is twice said to come or of some other Church that I will not say might notwithstanding his employment in a particular Church repair to Antioch or Caesarea as the Spirit willed him there to discharge the Office of a Prophet So then both Timothy and Titus might be Bishops as to their ordinary place and calling though in relation unto their extraordinary gifts they were both Evangelists As for their falling from a higher to a lower function from an Evangelist unto a Bishop I cannot possibly perceive where the fall should be They that object this will not say but Timothy at the least was made a Presbyter for wherefore else did the Presbytery which they so much stand on lay hands upon him And certainly if it were no diminution from an Evangelist to become a I resbyter it was a preferment unto the Evangelist from being but a Presbyter to become a Bishop But for the Bishopping of Timothy and Titus as to the quod sit of it that so they were in the opinion of all ancient Writers we have said enough We will next look on the authority committed to them to see what further proof hereof may be brought for that CHAP. V. Of the Authority and Jurisdiction given by the Word of God to Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops 1. The Authority committed to Timothy and Titus was to be perpetual and not personal only 2. The power of Ordination intrusted only unto Bishops by the Word of God according to the judgments of the Fathers 3. Bishops alone both might and did Ordain without their Presbyters 4. That Presbyters might not Ordain without a Bishop proved by the memorable case of Coluthus and Ischyras 5. As by those also of Maximus and a Spanish Bishop 6. In what respects the joint assistance of the Presbyters was required herein 7. The case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas declared and qualified 8. The care of ordering Gods Divine Service a work peouliar to the Bishop 9. To whom the Ministration also of the Saoraments doth in chief belong 10. Bishops to have a care that Gods Word be preached and to encourage those that take pains that way 11. Bishops to silence and correct such Presbyters as preach other doctrines 12. As also to reprove and reject the Heretick 13. The censure and correction of inferiour Presbyters doth belong to Bishops 14. And of Lay-people also if they walk unworthy of their Christian calling 15. Conjectural proofs that the description of a Bishop in the first to Timothy is of a Bishop truly and properly so called THEY who object that Timothy and Titus were Evangelists and so by consequence no Bishops Unbishopping of Tim. Tit. p. 60 61 c. have also said and left in writing that the authority committed to them by Saint Paul did not belong to them at all as Bishops but Evangelists only But this if pondered as it ought hath no ground to stand on The calling of Evangelists as it was Extraordinary so it was but temporary to last no longer than the first planting of the Church for which so many signal gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit were at first poured on the Disciples I know not any Orthodox Writer who doth not in this point agree with Calvin Com. in 4. ad Eph. v. 11. who in his Comment on the Epistle to the Ephesians gives us this instruction Deum Apostolis Evangelistis Prophetis Ecclesiam suam non nisi ad tempus ornasse that God adorned his Church with Prophets Evangelists and Apostles for a season only having before observed that of all those holy ministrations there recited Postrema tantum duo perpetua esse the two last viz. Pastors and Teachers which he takes for two were to be perpetual But on the other side power to ordain fit Ministers of what sort soever as also to reprove and censure those that behaved themselves unworthily authority to convent and reject an Heretick to punish by the censures of the Church all such as give offence and scandal to the Congregation by their exhorbitant and unruly living this ought to be perpetual in the Church of Christ This the Apostle seems to intimate when he said to Timothy I charge thee in the sight of God 1 Tim. 6.14 and before Jesus Christ that thou keep this Commandment without spot
and unreprovable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ Now Timothy was not like to live till Christs second coming the Apostle past all question never meant it so therefore the power and charge here given to exercise the same according to the Apostles Rules and Precepts was not personal only but such as was to appertain to him and to his successours for ever even till the appearing of our Lord and Saviour The like expression do we find in Saint Matthew when our Redeemer said unto his Apostles Matth. 28. ult Behold I am with you always even unto the end of the world Not always certainly with his Apostles not to the end of the World with those very men to whom he did address himself when he spake these words for they being mortal men have been dead long since Non solis hoc Apostolis dictum esse this was no personal promise then saith Calvin truly Harmon Evangel In Matth. 28. With them and their successours he might always be and to the end of the world give them his assistance Cum vobis successorlbus vestris as Denis the Carthusian very well observeth Saint Paul then gives this charge to Timothy and in him unto all his successors in the Episcopal function which should continue in the Church till Christs second coming And therefore I conceive the annotation of the ordinary gloss to be sound and good in Timotheo omnibus successoribus loquitur Apostolus Glossa Ordinar in 1 Tim. 6. that this was spoke in Timothy unto all his successors And so the Commentaries under the name of Ambrose do inform us also saying that Paul was not so solicitous for Timothy as for his successors ut exemplo Timothei Ecclesiae ordinationem custodirent In 1 Tim. 6. that they might learn by his Example i.e. by practising those directions which were given to him to look unto the ordering of the Church This ground thus laid we must next look on the authority which the Apostle gave to Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops And the best way to look upon it is to divide the same as the School-men do into potestas ordinis and potestas jurisdictionis the power of Order and the power of jurisdiction in each of which there occur divers things to be considered First for the power of Order besides what every Bishop doth and may lawfully perform by vertue of the Orders he received as Presbyter there is a power of Order conferred upon him as a Bishop and that 's indeed the power of Ordination or giving Orders which seems so proper and peculiar to the Bishops Office as not to be communicable to any else Paul gives it as a special charge to Timothy to lay hands hastily on no man Tim. 5.22 which caution doubtless had been given in vain in case the Presbyters of Ephesus might have done it as well as he And Titus seems to have been left in Crete for this purpose chiefly Tit. 1. v. 5. that he might ordain Presbyters in every City which questionless had been unnecessary in case an ordinary Presbyter might have done the same The Fathers have observed from these Texts of Scripture that none but Bishops strictly and properly so called according as the word was used when they lived that said it have any power of Ordination Epiphanius in his dispute against Aerius Haeres 75. n. 4. observes this difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters whom the Heretick would fain have had to be the same that the Presbyter by administring the Sacrament of Baptism did beget children to the Church but that the Bishop by the power of Ordination ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did beget Fathers to the same A power from which he utterly excludes the Presbyter and gives good reason for it too for how saith he can he ordain or constitute a Presbyter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which in his Ordination did receive no power to impose hands upon another Hom. 11. in 1 Tim. c. 3. Chrysostom speaking of the difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter makes it consist in nothing else but in this power of Ordination ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. only in laying on of hands saith he or in Ordination a Bishop is before or above a Presbyter and have that power only inherent in them Epistola ad Euagr. which the others have not Hierom although a great advancer of the place and Office of the Presbyter excludes him from the power of Ordination or any interest therein Quid enim facit excepta ordinatione Episcopus quod Presbyter non faciat What saith he doth a Bishop saving Ordination more than a Presbyter may do Neither doth Hierom speak de facto and not de jure quid facit not quid debet facere Smectymn p. 37. as I observe the place to be both cited and applyed in some late Discourses Hierom's non faciat is as good as non debet facere and they that look upon him well will find he pleads not of the possession only but the right and Title And we may see his meaning by the passage formerly alledged upon the words of Paul to Titus cap. 1. v. 5. Audiant Episcopi qui habent constituendi Presbyteros per singulas urbes potestatem By which it seems that Bishops only had the power of ordaining Presbyters and that they did both claim and enjoy the same from this grant to Titus For further clearing of this point there are two things to be declared and made evident first that the power of Ordination was so inherent in the person of a Bishop that he alone both might and did sometimes ordain without help of Presbyters and secondly that the Presbyters might not do the same without the Bishop And first that anciently the Bishops of the Church both might and did ordain without the help or co-assistance of the Presbyters Euseb hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 7. n. appeareth by the ordination of Origen unto the Office of a Presbyter by Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea and Alexander Bishop of Hierusalem who laid hands upon him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as my Author hath it Which act of theirs when it was quarrelled by Demetrius he did not plead in bar that there were no Presbyters assistant in it but that the party had done somewhat and we know what 't was by which he was conceived to be uncapable of holy Orders Id. l. 6. c. 25. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So when the Bishop whosoever he was out of an affectation which he bare unto Novatus not being yet a Separatist from the Church of God desired ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Clergy being all against it to ordain him Presbyter the matter stood upon as the story testifieth was not the Bishops being the sole agent in it but because it was forbidden by the ancient Canons that any one who had been formerly baptized being sick in bed and that had been Novatus case should be
which they had wrongfully received So little influence had the Presbyters in the essential parts of Ordination as that their bare reading of the words though required to it by the Bishop was adjudged enough not only to make them liable to the Churches Censure but also for their sakes to make void the Action Nay so severe and punctual was the Church herein that whereas certain Bishops of those times whether consulting their own case or willing to decline so great a burthen had suffered their Chorepiscopi aswell those which were simply Presbyters as such as had Episcopal Ordination for two there were to perform this Office Concil Gangrens Can. 13. Concil Antioch l. Can. 10. it was forbidden absolutely in the one limited and restrained in the other sort as by the Canons of the two ancient Synods of Gangra and Antioch doth at full appear It is true indeed that anciently as long for ought I know as there is any Monument or Record of true Antiquity the Presbyters have joyned their hands to and with the Bishops in the performance and discharge of this great Solemnity And hereof there are many evidences that affirm the same as well in matter of fact as in point of Law Saint Cyprian one of the ancientest of the Fathers which now are extant Cyprian Ep. 33. or l. 2. ep 5. affirms that in the ordination of Aurelius unto the Office of a Reader in the Church of Carthage he used the hands of his Colleagues Hunc igitur à me à Collegis qui praesentes aderant ordinatum sciatis as he reports the matter in a Letter to his charge at Carthage Where by Colleagues it is most likely that he means his Presbyters first because that Epistle was written during the time of his retreat and privacy what time it is not probable that any of his Suffragan Bishops did resort unto him and secondly because those words qui praesentes aderant are so conform unto the practice of that Church in the times succeeding For in the fourth Council of Carthage held in the year 401. Concil Car. 4. Can. 3. it was Decreed that when a Presbyter was ordained the Bishop blessing him and holding his hand upon his head etiam omnes Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super caput illius teneant all the Presbyters which are present shall likewise lay their hands upon his head near the hands of the Bishop Id. Can. 12. And in the same Council it was further ordered that the Bishop should not ordain a Clergy-man sine consilio clericorum suorum without the counsel of his Clergy which also doth appear to be Cyprians practice in the first words of the Epistle before remembred But then it is as true withal that this conjunction of the Presbyters in the solemnities of this Act was rather ad honorem Sacerdotii quam essentiam operis more for the honour of the Priesthood than for the essence of the work Nor did the laying on of the Presbyters hands confer upon the party that was ordained any power or order but only testified their consent unto the business and approbation of the man according to the purpose and intent of the last of the two Canons before alledged And for the first Canon if you mark it well it doth not say that if there be no Presbyters in place the Bishop should defer the Ordination till they came but Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt if any Presbyters were present at the doing of it they should lay their hands upon his head near the Bishops hands So that however anciently in the purest times the Presbyters which were then present both might and did impose hands with the Bishop upon the man to be ordained and so concurred in the performance of the outward Ceremony yet the whole power of Ordination was vested in the person of the Bishop only as to the essence of the work And this appears yet further by some passages in the Civil Laws prescribed for the ordering of Ecclesiastical Ministers by which upon neglect or contempt thereof the Presbyters were not obnoxious unto punishment that joyned with the Bishop because they had no power to hinder what he meant to do But the Bishop only qui ordinat or qui ordinationem imponit he in whom rested the authority by laying on or by withholding of his hands either to frustrate or make good the action he was accomptable unto the Laws if he should transgress them for which consult Novell Constitut 123. Cited by B. Bilson c. 13. Sozomen Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 23. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ca. 16. and Novell Constitut 6. And so it also stood in the Churches practice as appeareth plainly by the degradations of Basilius Eleusius and Elpidius three ancient Bishops because that amongst other things they had advanced some men unto holy Orders contrary to the Laws and Ordinances of the Church of which Elpidius was deposed on no other reason but on that alone Now had the Presbyters been agents in ordaining as well as the Bishop and the imposing of their hands so necessary that the business could not be performed without them there had been neither equity nor reason in it to let them scape Scot-free and punish the poor Bishops only for that in which the Presbyters were as much in fault Against all this I meet with no Objection in Antiquity but what hath casually been encountred in the former passages This present age doth yield one and a great one too which is the case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas who finding an aversness of the Bishops at the first to give them Orders unless they would desert the work of Reformation which they had in hand were fain to have recourse to Presbyters for their Ordinations in which estate they still continue That thus it was August Con. in fine appeareth by the Augustan Confession the Authors and Abettors of the which complain that the Bishop would admit none unto sacred Orders Nisi jurent se puram Evangelii Doctrinam nolle docere except they would be sworn not to Preach the Gospel according to the grounds and Principles of their Reformation For their parts they professed Non id agi ut dominatio excipiatur Episcopis that they had no intention to deprive the Bishops of their Authority in the Church but only that they might have liberty to Preach the Gospel and be eased of some few Rites and Ceremonies which could not be observed without grievous sin This if it could not be obtained and that a Schism did follow thereupon it did concern the Bishops to look unto it how they would make up their account to Almighty God So that the Bishops thus refusing to admit them into holy Orders which was the publique ordinary Door of entrance into the Ministery of the Church necessity compelled them at the last to enter in by private ways and impose hands on one another In which
extirpatio the extirpation of false doctrine This part of jurisdiction with those that follow I shall declare only but not exemplifie For being matters meerly practical and the proceedings on Record they will occur hereafter as occasion is in this following History And that which followeth first is very near of kin indeed unto that before For many times it happeneth so that howsoever men be charged not to teach strange doctrins and that their mouths be stopped and they put to silence yet they will persevere however in their wicked courses and obstinately continue in the same until at last their obstinacy ends in heresie What course is to be taken upon such occasions The Apostle hath resolved that also A man that is an Heretick saith he after the first and second admonition Tit. 3.10 is to be rejected Rejected but by whom why by Titus surely The words are spoken unto him in the second person and such as did possess the same place and office Hanc sive admonitionem sive correptionem intellige ab Episcopo faciendam Estius in Ep. ad Tit. c. 3. c. This ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which Saint Paul here speaks of whether that it be meant of gentle admonition or severe reproof must be done only by the Bishop and that not as a private person but as the governour of the Church and that both with authority and power by which he also may denounce him excommunicate if he amend not on the same So Estius in his Comment on the place and herewith Calvin doth accord Tito scribens Paulus Calvin in Titum c. 3. non disserit de Officio magistratus sed quid Episcopo conveniat Paul saith he writing unto Titus disputes not of the Office of the civil Magistrate but of the duty of a Bishop And this in answer unto some who had collected from these words of the Apostle that Hereticks were to be encountred with no sharper weapon than that of Excommunication nec esse ultra in eos saeviendum and that there was no other course to be taken with them In which these Moderns say no more as to the exercise and discharge of the Episcopal function in this case Hieron ad Riparium adv Vigilant a. than what the Ancients said before I marvail saith Saint Hierom speaking of Vigilantius a broacher of strange or other Doctrins in the Church of Christ that the Bishop in whose Diocess he is said to be a Presbyter hath so long given way to his impiety Et non virgâ Apostolica virgáque ferreâ confringere vas inutile and that he hath not rather broke in pieces with the Apostolick rod a rod of iron this so unprofitable a Vessel In which as the good Father manifests his own zeal and fervour so he declareth therewithal what was the Bishops power and office in the present business The last part of Episcopal jurisdiction which we have to speak of is the correction of ill manners whether in the Presbyters or in the People concerning which the Apostle gives both power to Timothy 1 Tim. 5.19 20. and command to use it First for the Presbyters Against an Elder receive not an accusation but before two or three Witnesses but if they be convicted them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear In the declaring of which power I take for granted that the Apostle here by Elder doth mean a Presbyter according to the Ecclesiastical notion of that word Hom. 15. in 1 Tim. in locum though I know that Chrysostom and after him Theophylact and Oecumenius do take it only for a man well grown in years And then the meaning of Saint Paul will be briefly this that partly in regard of the Devils malice apt to calumniate men of that holy function and partly to avoid the scandal which may thence arise Timothy and in him all other Bishops should be very cautious in their proceedings against men of that profession But if they find them guilty on examination then not to smother or conceal the matter but censure and rebuke them openly that others may take heed of the like offences The Commentaries under the name of Ambrose Amb. in 1. ad Tim. c. 5. do expound it so Quoniam non facile credi debet de Presbytero crimen c. Because a crime or accusation is not rashly to be credited against a Presbyter yet if the same prove manifest and undeniable Saint Paul commandeth that in regard of his irregular conversation he be rebuked and censured publikely that others may be thereby terrified And this saith he non solum ordinatis sed plebi proficit will not be only profitable unto men in Orders but to Lay people also Herewith agreeth as to the making of these Elders to be men in Orders the Comment upon this Epistle Hier. in Ep. 1. ad Tim. ascribed to Hierom Presbyters then are subject unto censure but to whose censure are they subject Not unto one anothers surely that would breed confusion but to the censure of their Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Epiphanius Epipha haer 75. n. 5. Theoph. in 1. ad Tim. c. 5. he speaks to Timothy being a Bishop not to receive an accusation against a Presbyter Theophylact also saith the same For having told us that if a Presbyter upon examination of the business be found delinquent he must be sharply and severely censured that others may be terrified thereby he adds ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it becomes a Bishop in such cases to be stern and awful Lyra in eund locum Lyra observes the like in his Gloss or Postils viz. that the proceedings against inferiour Clergy-men in foro exteriori in a judiciary way is a peculiar of the Bishops But what need more be said than that of Beza Beza Annot. in 1. ad Tim. 5. who noteth on these very words that Timothy to whom this power or charge was given was President or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at that time of the Ephesian Clergy Which is a plain acknowledgment in my opinion that the correction of the Clergy by the law of God doth appertain unto the Bishop the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or President of the Presbytery call him what you will For what need we contend for words when we have the matter And this appeareth by the several Councils of Nice and Antioch Sardica Turin Africa and Sevil in all and every of the which the censure and proceedings against a Presbyter are left to their own Bishops severally but a course taken therewithal for their ease and remedy in case their own Bishops should proceed against them out of heat or passion For the Lay-people next that Paul gave Timothy a power of correcting them appears by the instructions which he gives him for the discharge of this authority towards all sorts of People whether that they be old or young of what sex soever Old men if they offend must be handled gently
business deals for all the world like the naughty Cow that gives a good meals milk and kicketh it down with her heel For having shewed some pains and learning in his Apology for Ignatius in vindicating these Epistles from all those who except against them Yet in the body of the Text when ever he doth meet with any thing which runneth cross unto his fancies that he excepts against himself as supposititious and adulterate or else destroyeth a good Text with a faulty Comment But let us take the Author as he gives him to us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ignat. ad Tral Be subject to the Bishop saith the good Father as unto the Lord and to the Presbyters as to Christs Apostles Vedelius hereupon observes that the Presbyters are the proper successors of the Apostles Vedel Annotat in Ep. ad Trallian c. 3. contrary unto that of Bellarmine who makes them as he saith to succeed the seventy In which Vedelius doth the Bishops a far greater courtesie than I believe he did intend them making the disproportion more considerable between the Bishop and his Presbyters than any Champion of the Prelacy had done before him For if Vedelius may infer from our Authors words that the Presbyters are successors unto the Apostles we may as well infer from the self same grounds that Bishops are the successors of Christ our Saviour The like obedience to the Bishop he presseth in another place of the same Epistle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Reverence your Bishop as you would do Christ as the Apostles have commanded Ignat. ibid. And then he gives this reason of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for what else is the Bishop but one superiour unto all in place and Power what else the Presbytery but an holy Company the Counsellers and Assessors of the Bishop In which we have as great a difference betwixt a Bishop and his Presbyters as is between a Prince and his Privy Council In that to the Magnesians thus Id. ad Magn. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It becomes you to obey your Bishop not being refractory against him in any thing for a most terrible thing it is to contradict him and oppose him in that the contumely or reproach doth redound to God In his third Epistle Id. ad Philad that to the Philadelphians he writeth thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Priests are good and so are the Deacons as being Ministers of the Word but better or more excellent is the Chief Priest as being only trusted with the Holy of Holies and the secrets of God Id. ad Smyrn The like occurs in that to those of Smyrna ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Honour God as the Author and Lord of all things and your Bishop as the chief Priest bearing the Image of God that is to say of God as he is chief and of Christ as Priest And though Vedelius brands this last as supposititious Vedel in marg Ep. ad Philad and in the former by chief Priest will have our Saviour meant and not the Bishop yet he that looks upon the place without prejudice Id. in exercit n. Ep. ad Smyrnens cap. 18. will easily discern the contrary the comparison which there Ignatius maketh being between the Ministers of the Church with one another and not between the Ministers and the Master betwixt them and Christ with whom it were both impious and absurd to make comparisons It were an endless piece of work to instance in all those several places wherein the superiority of Bishops over all the flock is pleaded and declared by this blessed Martyr I therefore shut up all with this Conclusion Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrnens ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let the Lay-people be subject to the Deacons the Deacons to the Presbyters the Presbyters unto the Bishop and the Bishop unto Christ as he to his Father An heavenly and Divine subordination Not one of all the ancient Fathers that speaks more clearly and distinctly of the Degrees and Orders in the Hierarchy than this blessed Martyr assigning unto every one his due place and station If in one place he calls the Presbyters by the name of Bishops as writing unto Hero one of the Deacons of the Church of Antioch it is plain he doth it was at such time and on such occasion when he himself being the Bishop of that place was ravished from them and the chief Government thereof was to them committed as in the times of vacancy or absence it hath since been done which gave them the authority of Bishops though not the Order For point of Jurisdiction next he gives us first this charge in general It is expedient saith he that whatsoever things you do ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do it not without your Bishop that is to say as he expounds himself in another place Id. ad Smyrn ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nothing that appertains unto the Church or concerns Religion And this he grounds on the obedience of our Saviour Christ Id. ad Magnes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who doth not any thing without his Father resolving finally that they who give unto their Governour the name of Bishop Id. ibid. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and yet do what they list without him do in effect as those did unto Christ our Saviour who said unto him Lord Lord and yet did nothing which he said As for particulars he would have those which marry or are given in marriage Id. in Epist ad Polycar ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to take the Bishop along with them that so their marriage may be made according unto Gods Commandment and not for wantonness The Eucharist he would not have performed but by the Bishop either by him in person or by his authority nor Baptism to be administred without his licence and permission This last expresly in his 4th Epistle being that unto the Church of Smyrna Id. ad Smyrn It is not lawful without the Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã either to baptize or present Oblations or celebrate the sacrifice of the blessed Eucharist or solemnize the Love feasts but all things to be done agreeably unto his direction according to the will and pleasure of Almighty God In which as to the Sacrament of Baptism Tertul. lib. de Baptismo Tertullian also doth concur as we shall see hereafter in its proper place And for the celebrating of the Eucharist by himself in person and the assembling of the people upon his appointment the same good Father gives it thus Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrnens ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let that administration of the Eucharist be held good and valid which is done by the Bishop or such as he permits to do it And where the Bishop shall appear there let the Congregation be assembled as where Christ is there all the Hosts of Heaven do stand round about him Those that assemble otherwise than thus and do not take the Bishop
who thus succeeded one another in these several Churches were no more than Presbyters as some please to say then must we quit the cause and let fall the action And though I cannot think that men of wit and learning whatsoever they say doe or can possibly conceive them to be other than Bishops Bishops distinct from Presbyters both in power and title yet we are told and we shall see how truly that Anicetus Pius Higinus Smectym p. 23. Telesphorus and Sextus whom the Papists call Bishops and the Popes Predecessors are by Eusebius termed Presbyters and therefore for what else must be the inference that Bishops and Presbyters are the same A passage in the which there are almost as many fallacies and mistakes as words which I shall briefly represent and so pass them by For first Eusebius whom they cite doth not call them Presbyters but Irenaeus in Eusebius Euseb eccl hist l. 1. c. 24. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which so great Criticks should have seen The difference of the Age or time when these Authors lived maketh a great difference in the use and acceptation of the word And I believe it cannot easily be found whatever may be said of Irenaeus that Bishops are called Presbyters by Eusebius or any Writer of his time 2. It is not evident by the Authors words that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is there used to denote the Office but the Age or rather Seniority of those holy men which preceded Victor in the Church of Rome Or if it were yet 3ly it is past all question that simply Presbyters they were not though by him so called but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such as had had the government of that famous Church and so were Bishops at the least both in name and office 4. The calling of them by the name of Presbyters doth no more conclude that Presbyters and Bishops were the same than if a man discoursing of the state of London should say that my Lord Mayor was a wealthy Citizen and thereupon a stander by should make this conclusion that every Citizen is Lord Mayor of London and hath as much to do in the Government thereof as he 5. The Papists do not call Higinus Pius Sixtus and the rest there mentioned by the name of Bishops or if they do they do not call them so quà Papists or if so too and that none call them so but Papists there is almost no Father in the Church of Christ who may not presently be endited and condemned of Popery because there is almost no Father nor any other ancient Writer who doth not call them by that name 6. And lastly it is no Popery nor the language of a Papist neither to say that Pius Sixtus and the rest there named were the Popes Predecessors for Predecessors of the Popes they were in their See and Government though neither in their Tyranny nor Superstition Nor doth this Argument strike only at the Popes of Rome though they only named but at all the Bishops of the Primitive Church whether of the greater Patriarchal Sees or of any other who if the observation of these men be good and valid were no more but Presbyters The best way to refel which fancy is to behold the latitude and extent of that jurisdiction which the Bishops of these Churches did enjoy at this present time which when we have laid down sincerely according as it stood in the times we speak of it shall be left to be considered of by any sober-minded man whosoever he be whether the men that held such ample jurisdiction were no more than Presbyters or whether such Bishops were the same with Presbyters which comes both to one Now that the latitude of jurisdiction belonging to these four prime Sees especially to those of Antioch Rome and Alexandria was as ancient as the times whereof we speak appeareth plainly by the Canon of the Nicene Council For whereas it was ordered by the aforesaid Council Concil Nicen. Can. 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that ancient customs should prevail viz. the Churches of Alexandria Rome and Antioch should enjoy those priviledges which before they had those priviledges or customs call them which you will could not of right be counted ancient unless we place them at the latest in this second Century the close thereof being not much above an hundred years before that Synod Now for those priviledges what they were we are in part informed by the self same Cannon Id. ibid. where it is said that the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria did extend over all Egypt Epiphan adv haer 68. Libya and Pentapolis To which though Epiphanius addeth Thebais Maraeotica and Ammoniaca yet he adds nothing in effect the two first being Provinces of Egypt and the last of Libya So that his jurisdiction reached from Gaza in the parts of Syria unto the Western border of Cyrenaica for that was the Pentapolis mentioned in the Canon where it conterminated on that of Africk The Canon having thus laid out the bounds of the command and jurisdiction belonging unto him of Alexandria proceedeth unto that of Rome who had his mos parilis or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an answerable latitude and extent of power But for the certainty of this extent we must refer our selves unto Ignatius directing his Epistle to the Romans Ignat. in epist ad Romanos with this superscription ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the sanctified and illuminated Church of God presiding in the place of the Religion of the Romans If Bellarmine can out of this extract an Argument for the Popes supremacy Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 2. c. 15. as he pretendeth to have done he is a better Chymist than I took him for And therefore I must turn him over to be better tutored by Vedelius who howsoever in his notes upon that Father he lean too much on his own affections and opinions doth in this very well declare the good Fathers meaning agreeably unto the tendries of antiquity And by him we are told Vedel exercit in epi. ad Ro. c. 2. that nothing here is meant by the place or Religion of the Romans nisi quicquid in Italia terrarum Praefecti urbis administrationi suberat but only those parts of Italy which were directly under the civil government of the Provost of Rome that is to say Latium Tuscia and Picenum To which perhaps were added in the following Ages the whole East part of Italy which we now call Napleâ âogether with the Isles of Corsica Sardinia and Sicilia all which made up the proper Patriarchate of the Bishop of Rome In which regard as anciently the Bishop of Rome was called Vrbicus as doth appear plainly by Optatus Optat. de schis-Donatist l. 1. Ruffin hist eccl lib. 1. cap. 6. calling Pope Zephyrinus by the name of Zephyrinus Vrbicus the City-Bishop So the said Provinces or Regions unto him belonging were called by Ruffinus an Italian writer Suburbicariae Regiones or
the City Provinces As for the Church of Antiochia it spread its bounds and jurisdiction over those goodly Countries of the Roman Empire from the Mediterranean on the West unto the furthest border of that large dominion where it confined upon the Persian or the Parthian Kingdom together with Cilicia and Isauria in the lesser Asia But whether at this time it was so extended I am not able to determine Certain I am that in the very first beginning of this Age all Syria at the least was under the jurisdiction of this Bishop Ignatius in his said Epistle to those of Rome Ignat. ad Rom. stiling himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not a Bishop in Syria but the Bishop of Syria which sheweth that there being many Bishops in that large Province he had a power and superiority over all the rest Indeed the Bishops of Hierusalem were hedged within a narrower compass being both now and long time after subject unto the Metropolitan of Caesarea as appears plainly by the Nicene Canon though after they enlarged their border and gained the title of a Patriarch as we may see hereafter in convenient time Only I add that howsoever other of the greater Metropolitan Churches such as were absolute and independent as Carthage Cyprus Millain the Church of Britain Concil Ni. c. 7â and the rest had and enjoyed all manner of Patriarchal rights which these three enjoyed yet only the three Bishops of Rome Antioch and Alexandria had in the Primitive times the names of Patriarches by reason of the greatness of the Cities themselves being the principal both for power and riches in the Roman Empire the one for Europe the other for Asia and the third for Africk This ground thus laid we will behold what use is made of this Episcopal succession by the ancient writers And first Saint Irenaeus a Bishop and a Martyr both derives an argument from hence to convince those Hereticks which broached strange Doctrines in the Church Iren. contr haer lib. 3. cap. 3. Habemus annumerari eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis c. we are able to produce those men which were ordained Bishops by the Apostles in their several Churches and their successors till our times qui nihil tale docuerunt neque cognoverunt quale ab hiis deliratur who neither knew nor taught any such absurdities as these men dream of Which said in general he instanceth in the particular Churches of Rome Ephesus and Smyrna being all founded by the Apostles and all of them hac ordinatione successione by this Episcopal ordination and succession deriving from the Apostles the Preaching and tradition of Gods holy truth till those very times The like we find also in another place where speaking of those Presbyteri so he calleth the Bishops which claimed a succession from the Apostles He tells us this quod cum Episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt that together with the Episcopal succession Ir. adv haeres l. 4. cap. 43. they had received a certain pledge of truth according to the good pleasure of the Father See to this purpose also cap. 63. where the same point is pressed most fully and indeed much unto the honour of this Episcopal succession Where because Irenaeus called Bishops in the former place by the name of Presbyters I would have no man gather Smectym p. 23. as some men have done that he doth use the name of Bishops and Presbyters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in a promiscuous sense much less conclude that therefore Presbyters and Bishops were then the same For although Irenaeus doth here call the Bishops either by reason of their age or of that common Ordination which they once received by the name of Presbyters yet he doth no where call the Presbyters by the name of Bishops as he must needs have done if he did use the names ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in a promiscuous sense as it is supposed And besides Irenaeus being at this time Bishop if not Archbishop of the Church of Lyons could not but know that he was otherwise advanced both in power and title as well in Dignity as Jurisdiction than when he was a Presbyter of that very Church under Pothinus his Predecessor in that See and therefore not the same man meerly which he was before But to let pass as well the observation as the inference certain I am that by this argument the holy Father did conceive himself to be armed sufficiently against the Hereticks of his time and so much he expresseth plainly saying that by this weapon he was able to confound all those qui quoquo modo vel per sui placentiam malam vel vanam gloriam vel per coecitatem malam sententiam praeter quam oportet Ire adv haeres l. 3. c. 3. colligunt Who any way either out of an evil self complacency or vain-glorious humour or blindness of the mind or a depraved understanding did raise such Doctrins as they ought not So much for blessed Irenaeus a man of peace as well in disposition and affection as he was in name Next let us look upon Tertullian who lived in the same time with Irenaeus beginning first to be of credit about the latter end of this second Century Baron ann eccl anno 196. Pamel in vita Tertull. as Baronius calculates it and being at the height of reputation an 210. as Pamelius noteth about which time Saint Irenaeus suffered Martyrdom And if we look upon him well we find him pressing the same point with greater efficacy than Irenaeus did before him For undertaking to convince the Hereticks of his time as well of falshood as of novelties and to make known the new upstartedness of their Assemblies which they called the Church he doth thus proceed Tertull. de praes adv haeres c. 32. Edant ergo origines ecclesiarum suarum evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum c. Let them saith he declare the original of their Churches let them unfold the course or order of their Bishops succeeding so to one another from the first beginning that their first Bishop whosoever he was had some of the Apostles or of the Apostolical men at least who did converse with the Apostles to be their founder and Predecessor For thus the Apostolical Churches do derive their Pedegree Thus doth the Church of Smyrna shew their Polycarpus placed there amongst them by Saint John and Rome her Clement Consecrated or Ordained by Peter even as all other Churches also do exhibit to us the names of those who being Ordained Bishops by the Apostles did sow the Apostolical seed in the field of God This was the challenge that he made And this he had not done assuredly had he not thought that the Episcopal succession in the Church of Christ had been an evident demonstration of the truth thereof which since the Hereticks could not shew in their Congregations or Assemblies it
was a very pregnant evidence that they had neither verity nor antiquity to defend their Doctrins nor could with any shew of Justice challenge to themselves the name and honour of a Church Id. ibid. ca. 36. And such and none but such were those other Churches which he after speaketh of viz. of Corinth Philippi Thessalonica Ephesus and the rest planted by the Apostles apud quas ipsae Cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesidentur in which the Chairs of the Apostles to that time were sate in being possessed not by themselves but by their Successors By the same argument Optatus first and after him St. Austin did confound the Donatists that mighty faction in the Church St. Austin thus Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa sede Petri August contr Petil. l. 2. in illo ordine quis cui successerit videte Number the Bishops which have sate but in Peters Chair and mark who have succeeded one another in the same A Catalogue of which he gives us in another place Id. Epist 165. lest else he might be thought to prescribe that to others on which he would not trust himself Nay so far he relyed on the authority of this Episcopal Succession in the Church of Christ as that he makes it one of the special motives quae eum in gremio Ecclesiae justissimè teneant which did continue him in the bosom of the Catholick Church Id. contr Epist Manichaei c. 4. As for Optatus having laid down a Catalogue of the Bishops in the Church of Rome till his own times He makes a challenge to the Donatists to present the like Optat. de schis Donat. l. 2. Vestrae Cathedrae originem edite shew us saith he the first original of your Bishops and then you have done somewhat to advance your cause In which it is to be observed that though the instance be made only in the Episcopal succession of the Church of Rome Irt. adv haere lib. 3. cap. 3. the argument holds good in all others also it being too troublesome a labour as Irenaeus well observed omnium Ecclesiarum enumerare successiones to run through the succession of all particular Churches and therefore that made choyce of as the chief or principal But to return again unto Tertullian whom I account amongst the Writers of this Age though he lived partly in the other besides the use he made of this Episcopal succession to convince the Heretick he shews us also what authority the Bishops of the Church did severally enjoy and exercise in their successions which we will take according to the proper and most natural course of Christianity First for the Sacrament of Baptism which is the door or entrance into the Church Tertul. lib. de Baptism c. 17. Dandi quidem jus habet summus sacerdos i. e. Episcopus The Right saith he of giving Baptism hath the High-Priest which is the Bishop and then the Presbyters and Deacons non tamen sine Episcopi antoritate yet not without the Bishops licence and authority for the Churches honour which if it be preserved then is Peace maintained Nay so far he appropriates it unto the Bishop as that he calleth it dictatum Episcopi officium Episcopatus a work most proper to the Bishop in regard of his Episcopacy or particular Office Which howsoever it may seem to ascribe too much unto the Bishop in the administration of this Sacrament is no more verily than what was after affirmed by Hierom Hieron adver Lucifer shewing that in his time sine Episcopi jussione without the warrant of the Bishop neither the Presbyters nor the Deacons had any authority to Baptize not that I think that in the days of Hierom before whose time Parishes were assigned to Presbyters throughout the Church the Bishops special consent and warrant was requisite to the baptizing of each several Infant but that the Presbyters and Deacons did receive from him some general faculty for their enabling in and to those Ministrations Next for the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist that which is a chief part of that heavenly nourishment by which a Christian is brought up in the assured hopes of Eternal life he tells us in another place non de aliorum manu quam Praesidentium sumimus Tertul. de Corona Militis that they received it only from their Bishops hand the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or President of the Presbytery as Justin Martyr seconded by Beza did before call him Which Exposition or construction lest it should be quarrelled as being injurious to the Presbyters who are thereby excluded from the honour and name of Presidents I shall desire the Reader to consult those other places of Tertullian in which the word Prefident is used as viz. Prescriptio Apostoll Bigames non sinit praesidere Tert. ad axor lib. ad uxorem and lib. de Monogamia in both of which the man that had a second Wife is said to be disabled from Presiding in the Church of God and on consideration to determine of it whether it be more probable that Presbyters or Bishops be here meant by Presidents Besides the Church not being yet divided generally into Parishes but only in some greater Cities the Presbyter had not got the stile of Rector and therefore much less might be called a President that being a word of Power and Government which at that time the Presbyters enjoyed not in the Congregation And here Pope Leo will come in to help us if occasion be assuring us that in his time it was not lawful for the Presbyter in the Bishops presence nisi illo jubente Leo Epist 88. unless it were by his appointment conficere Sacramentum corporis sanguinis Christi to consecrate the Sacrament of Christs body and blood The author of the Tract ascribed to Hierom entituled de Septem Ecclesiae ordinibus doth affirm as much but being the author of it is uncertain though it be placed by Erasinus amongst the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã docta we will pass it by From the Administration of the Sacraments which do belong ad potestatem ordinis to the power of Order proceed we on to those which do appertain ad potestatem jurisdictionis unto the power of Jurisdiction And the first thing we meet with is the appointing of the publick Fasts used often in the Church as occasion was A priviledg not granted to the common Presbyter and much less to the common people but in those times wherein the Supream Magistrate was not within the pale or bosom of the Church entrusted to the Bishop only This noted also by Tertullian in his book entituled de jejuniis which though he writ after his falling from the Church and so not to be trusted in a point of Doctrine may very well be credited in a point of custom Quod Episcopi universae plebi mandare jejunia assolent non dico de industria stipium conferendarum sed ex aliqua sollicitudinis Ecclesiae causa
Tertul. lib. de jejuniis c. 13. That Bishops use to impose Fasts upon the people is not done of purpose for lucre or the Alms then given but out of a regard of the Churches welfare or the sollicitousness which they have thereof Wherein as he removes a cavil which as it seems was cast upon the Church about the calling of those Fasts so plainly he ascribes the calling of them to the Bishop only according unto whose appointment in unum omnes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã agitabant they met together for the humbling of themselves before God the Lord. So for disposing of the Churches Treasure for Menstrua quaque die modicam quisque stipem vel quam velit Id. in Apol. c. every month the people used to bring their Offerings as we call them now every man as he would and could that also appertained unto the Bishop Which as it was distributed most commonly amongst the Clergy for their present maintenance so was it in the Bishops power to bestow part thereof upon other uses as in relief of Widows and poor Virgins which appears plainly in that place and passage of Tertullian Tertul. de Virg. veland cap. 9. in his book de Virginibus velandis where speaking of a Virgin which contrary to the custom of the Church had been admitted into the rank of Widows he adds cui si quid refrigerii debuerat Episcopus that if the Bishop did intend to allow her any thing towards her relief and maintenance he might have done it without trespassing on the Churches discipline and setting up so strange a Monster as a Virgin-Widow And this is that which after was confirmed in the Council of Antioch Conc. Antioch Can. 25. where it is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Bishop ought to have authority in the disposing of the things or goods that appertained unto the Church ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that so he might dispose them unto such as stood in need in the fear of God Finally for the reconciling of a Penitent to the Church of God in the remitting of his sins Tertul. de pudicitia cap. 18. and bringing of him back to the fold again that in Tertullians time was a Peculiar of the Bishop also For speaking of Repentance after Faith received de poenitentia post fidem as he calls it he is content to give this efficacy thereunto though otherwise he held being then a Montanist that heinous Sinners after Grace received were not to be admitted to Repentance I say he is content to give this efficacy thereunto that for smaller sins it may obtain pardon or remission from the Bishop for greater and unpardonable from God alone But take his own words with you for the greater surety and his words are these viz. Salva illa poenitentiae specie post fidem quae aut levioribus delictis veniam ab Episcopo consequi potest aut majoribus irremissibilibus à Deo solo Pamel Annot. praedict lib. 159. In which Pamelius seems to wonder at his moderation as being of a better temper in this point than was Montanus into whose Sect he now was fallen who would have no man to make confession of his sins to any other than to God and seek for reconciliation from no hands but from his alone And in another place of the same book also Tertul. lib. de Pudicit cap. 1. although he seem to jeer and deride the usage he granteth that the Bishops of the Christian Church did usually remit even the greatest fins upon the performance of the Penance formerly enjoyned For thus he bringeth in the Bishop whom in the way of scorn he calleth Pontifex Maximus and Episcopus Episcoporum proclaiming as it were a general Pardon to such as had performed their Penance Ego moechiae fornicationis delicta poenitenti functis dimitto that he remitted to all such even the sins of Fornication and Adultery Which words of his declare not more his Errour than the Bishops Power in this particular What interest the Presbyters of the Church did either challenge or enjoy in this weighty business of reconciling Penitents to the Lord their God we shall see hereafter when as the same began to be in practice and was by them put in execution Mean time I take it for a manifest and undoubted Truth that properly originally and in chief it did belong unto the Bishop both to enjoyn Penance and admit the Penitent and not to the inferiour Presbyters but as they had authority by and under him Which lest I may be thought to affirm at random let us behold the manner of this Reconciliation as layed down by Sozomen Sozomen Eccl. hist l. 7. c. 16. not as relating to his own times but to the times whereof we speak ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. They stand saith he in an appointed place sorrowful and lamented and when the Eucharist is ended whereof they are not suffered to be partakers they cast themselves with grief and lamentation flat upon the ground ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Bishop then approaching towards him kneeleth also by him on the ground and all the multitude also do the like with great grief and ejulation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This done the Bishop riseth first and gently raiseth up the prostrate Penitent and having prayed for those that are thus in the state of Penance as much as he thinks fit and requisite they are dismissed for the present And being thus dismissed every man privately at home doth afflict himself either by fasting or by abstinence from Meats and Bathes for a certain time ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as long as by the Bishop is enjoyned him Which time appointed being come and his Penance in this sort performed he is absolved from his sins sins ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and joyned again unto the residue of the Congregation And this saith he hath been the custom of the Western Church and especially of the Church of Rome ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the very first beginning to this present time So that both in the City of Rome in which Tertullian sometimes lived and in the Western Church whereof he was a member being a Presbyter of Carthage and in the times in which he flourished for thus it was from the beginning the Bishop regularly had the power both of enjoyning Penance and reconciling of the Penitent as it still continueth Nor doth that passage in Tertullian any way cross the point delivered where speaking of the several acts of humiliation which were to be performed by the Penitent before he could be reconciled to the Church of God Tertul. lib. de Poenitent c. 9. he reckoneth these amongst the rest Presbyteris advolvi aris or caris Dei adgeniculari for whether of the two it is adbuc sub Judice omnibus fratribus legationes deprecationis suae injungere to cast themselves before the Presbyters to kneel before the Altars or the Saints of God to entreat the Prayers
since been ordained reverend for their Age for their Faith sincere tried in Affliction and proscribed in time of persecution Nor doth he speak this of his own time only which was somewhat after but as a matter of some standing cum jam pridem per omnes provincias that so it had been long ago and therefore must needs be so doubtless in this present Age being not long before his own And this extent of Christianity I do observe the rather in this place and time because that in the Age which followeth the multitudes of Christians being so increased we may perhaps behold a new face of things the times becoming quicker and more full of action Parishes or Parochial Churches set out in Country-Villages and Towns and several Presbyters allotted to them with an addition also both of trust and power unto the Presbyters themselves in the Cure of Souls committed to them by their Bishops with many other things which concern this business And therefore here we will conclude this present Century proceeding forward to the next in the name of God CHAP. IV. Of the authority in the government of the Church of Carthage enjoyed and exercised by Saint Cyprian and other Bishops of the same 1. Of the foundation and preheminences of the Church of Carthage 2. Of Agrippinus and Donatus two of St. Cyprian's Predecessors 3. The troublesom condition of that Church at Cyprian's first being Bishop there 4. Necessitated him to permit some things to the discretion of his Presbyters and consent of the People 5. Of the authority ascribed by Cyprian to the People in the Election of their Bishop 6. What Power the people had de facto in the said Elections 7. How far the testimony of the People was required in the Ordination of their Presbyters 8. The power of Excommunication reserved by St. Cyprian to the Bishop only 9. No reconciliation of a Penitent allowed by Cyprian without the Bishops leave and licence 10. The Bishop's power as well in the encouragement as in the punishment and censure of his Clergy 11. The memorable case of Geminius Faustinus one of the Presbyters of Carthage 12. The Bishop's Power in regulating and declaring Martyrs 13. The Divine Right and eminent authority of Bishops fully asserted by St. Cyprian SAint Hierom tells us of S. Cyprian Hieron de Scriâtor Eccl. in Tertulâd that he esteemed so highly of Tertulian's writings that he never suffered any day to pass over his head without reading somewhat in the same and that he did oft use to say when he demanded for his works Da mihi magistrum reach me my Tutor or Praeceptor So that considering the good opinion which S. Cyprian had harboured of the man for his Wit and Learrning and the nearness of the time in which they lived being both also members of the same Church the one a Presbyter the other Bishop of the Church of Carthage We will pass on unto S. Cyprian and to those monuments of Piety and Learning which he left behind him And this we shall the rather do because there is no Author of the Primitive times out of whose works we have such ample treasures of Ecclesiastical Antiquities as we have in his none who can give us better light for the discovery of the truth in the present search than that blessed Martyr But first before we come to the man himself we will a little look upon his charge on the Church of Carthage as well before as at his coming to be Bishop of it the knowledge of the which will give special light to our following business And first for the foundation of the Church of Carthage Cited by Baronius in Annal Eccl. Anno 51. if Metaphrastes may be credited it was the action of Saint Peter who leaving Rome at such time as the Jews were banished thence by the Decree of Claudius Caesar in Africam navigasse Carthaginensem erexisse Ecclesiam is by him said to sail to Africa and there to found the Church of Carthage leaving behind him Crescens one of his Disciples to be the Bishop of the same But whether this be so or not it is out of question that the Church of Carthage was not only of great Antiquity but that it also was of great power and credit as being the Metropolitan Church of Africk the Bishop of the same being the Primate of all Africa properly so called together with Numidia and both the Mauritanias as well Caesariensis as Sitisensis So witnesseth S. Cyprian himself Latius fusa est nostra Provincia Cypri Ep. 45. habet enim Numidiam Mauritanias duas sibi cohaerentes as his own words are And this appeareth also by the subscription of the Bishops to the Council of Carthage convented ex Provincia Africa Concil Tom. 1. p. 149. Edit Binil Numidia Mauritania as is most clear on the record For whereas antiently the Roman Empire was divided into fourteen Diocesses reckoning the Prefecture of the City of Rome for one every Diocess being subdivided into several Provinces as was said before the Diocess of Africa was not of the meanest containing in it six large Provinces Notitia Provinciarum and reaching from the greater Syrtis Eastward where it confined upon the Patriarchat of Alexandria to Mauritania Tingitana on the West which did belong unto the Diocess of Spain Now Carthage standing in that Province which was called Zeugitana or Proconsularis and being the Seat or Residence of the Vicarius or Lieutenant General of the Roman Empire for that Diocess The Bishop of it was not only the Metropolitan of his own Province but the Primate also in regard of the other sive which were Tripolitana Byzacena Numidia and the two Mauritanias before remembred Nor was he only the supream Bishop in regard of them but also absolute and independent in regard of others as being neither subject or subordinate to the Patriarchs of Alexandria though the prime City of all Africa nor to the Popes of Rome the Queen and Empress of the world Concil Carthaginiens 6. against whose machinations and attempts the Church of Carthage for a long time did maintain her liberty Such being the Authority and power of the Church of Carthage we must next look upon the Bishops of the same who though they had not got the name of Patriarchs as those of Antioch Rome and Alexandria now had and they of Constantinople and Hierusalem shall be found to have in the times succeeding yet had they all manner of Patriarchal jurisdiction Of these the first I meet withal was Agrippinus who flourished in the beginning of this Century bonae memoriae vir a man of blessed memory as S. Cyprian Cyprian Epist 71. Vincent Lerinen adv haeres cap. 9. Aug. de Bap. lib. 2. cap. 7 8. Cypr. Epi. 71. Venerabilis memoriae of venerable memory as Vincentius Lerinensis calls him S. Austin also mentioneth him in one of his discourses against the Donatists as a Predecessor of S. Cyprians
and all of them agree in this that he held those which were Baptized by Hereticks were to be Re-baptized by the Catholick Ministers for agitation of which business he caused a Council to be called of all the Bishops Qui illo tempore in Provincia Africae Numidiae Ecclesiam Dei gubernabant which at that time did govern the Church of God in the Provinces of Africk and Numidia in which Re-baptization of men so Baptized was decreed as necessary Which howsoever it doth shew that Agrippinus as a man had his personal errors yet shews it also that as a Bishop of Carthage he had a power and jurisdiction over all the other Bishops of the Diocess of Africk and all the Provinces thereof who on his summons met in Council as by those words of Cyprian plainly doth appear So that we find the holy Hierarchy so setled from the first beginners that as the Presbyters were subordinate unto their Bishops so it was there a subordination amongst the Bishops themselves according as it still continueth in those parts of Christendom in which Episcopal Government doth remain in force But Agrippinus being dead his error or opinion died also with him though it revived again not long after and his Successor by name Donatus looking more carefully unto his charge endeavoured what he could to free the same from erroneous doctrines And to that purpose called a Council of 90 Bishops in Labesitum a Colony in Africa in which Privatus an old Heretick was by their joynt consent condemned nonaginta Episcoporum sententiâ condemnatus Cypr. Epi. 55. as Cyprian hath it By which we may conjecture at the great spreading of Episcopacy over all this Province I mean that of Africa So great Baron in Annal that at this time being An. 242. as Baronius calculateth it there could assemble 90 Bishops at the command or summons of their Metropolitan especially if we consider that these were but a part of a greater number Augustin Epist 48. S. Austin telling us of a Council held in Carthage by the Donatists placed by Baronius Anno 308. in which there met together no fewer than 270 Bishops of that one faction But lest it may be said as perhaps it was that the Donatists increased the number of Bishops the better to support their party if ever the business should come to be examined in a Synodical meeting we find a Council held in Carthage under Aurelius who was Bishop there in S. Austins time Concil Tom. 1. Edit Bin. p. 587. Anno 398. in which Assembled to the number of 214 Bishops all of them Orthodox Professors With such a strange increase did God bless this calling For certainly the Church had never brought forth such a large encrease if God even our own God had not given his blessing Donatus being dead Anno 250. Cecilius Cyprianus a right godly man being then one of the Presbyters of the Church is chosen Bishop of the same and that not only by the joynt consent of the Clergy there Cypr. Ep. 55. sed populi universi suffragio but by the general suffrage of the people according to the general custom of that Church and time And being so chosen and ordained did for four years enjoy himself in peace and quiet But a fierce persecution being raised against the Church by the command of Decius then the Roman Emperor being proscribed and threatned death he retired himself expecting a return of better times Idem Epi. 10. wherein he might do service to the Lord his God Professing that in this retreat he followed the direction of the Lord qui ut secederet jussit who had commanded him so to do In this recess of his some of his Adversaries as who liveth without them which had opposed him in the time of his Election taking an opportunity to ensnare the people and draw them into factions against their Bishops had made a very strong party on their side calumniating his recess as a deserting of the Flock of Christ committed to him which more afflicted the good Father than the proscription of his goods or any trial of his patience which had been laid upon him by the Persecuters Of this conspiracy he certifieth the people of Carthage by way of Letter wherein he giveth them to understand how the matter stood Quorundam Presbyterorum malignitas perfidia perficit Idem Epi. 40. c. That I could not come to you before Easter the malice and perfidiousness of some of the Presbyters hath brought to pass whilst mindful of their own conspiracy and retaining their former rancor against my being Bishop or indeed rather against your suffrages in my Election and against the judgment of God approving the same they begin again to set on foot their former opposition renewing their sacrilegious machinations and lying treacherously in wait for my destruction And after in the same Epistle Non suffecerat exilium jam biennii à vultibus oculis vestris lugubris separatio c. It doth not seem sufficient to them that I have been now two years banished from your presence and to my great affliction separated from your sight that I am overwhelm'd with grief and sorrow vexing my self with my continual complaints and day and night washing my cheeks with tears because it hath not been as yet my good fortune to embrace or salute you whom you had chosen for your Bishop with such expressions of your love and zeal Accessit huic tabescenti animo nostro major dolor And yet a greater grief afflicteth my fainting soul that in so great distress and need I cannot come my self unto you fearing lest at my coming if I should so do some greater tumult should arise through the threats and secret practices of perfidious persons And that considering as a Bishop I am to take care for the peace and quiet of the Church ipse materiam seditioni dedisse I might seem to be or give occasion of some sedition likely to be raised and so renew the persecution which is now well slaked Nay as it seemeth some of the Presbyters of his Church which were not otherwise engaged in the faction or carried any ill affections towards him out of an inclination natural to man to enlarge their power and get as much authority into their hands as the times would give to the advantage of his absence also and began sensibly to encroach upon his Office and undertake such things as appertained to his jurisdiction Thus he complains of his Clergy that such as yet stood fair in their respects and firm in their obedience to him might be confirmed in the same and that the rest being made acquainted with their Errour might in fine desist Tacere ultra non oportet c. It is no time saith he to be longer silent Idem Ep. 10. when as the danger is so imminent both on my self and on my people For what extremity of danger may we not justly fear from Gods
displeasure when some of the Presbyters neither mindful of the Gospel or their own duty or the day of Judgment nor thinking that they have a Bishop set over them cum contemptu contumelia praepositi totum sibi vendicent with the contempt and reproach of him that is their Bishop shall arrogate all Power unto themselves Which their behaviour he calls also contumelias Episcopatus nostri the reproach and slander of his Government in having such affronts put on him as never had been offered to any of his Fredecessors The like complaint to which he doth also make but with more resolution and contempt of their wicked practices in an Epistle to Cornelius being the 55. in number according to the Edition of Pamelius I have the more at large laid down the storms and troubles raised against this godly Bishop at his first coming to the place because it gives greater light unto many passages which concern his time especially in that extraordinary Power which he ascribes sometimes both to the People and the Presbyters in the administration of the Church as if they had been Partners with him in the publick Government Which certainly he did not as his case then stood without special reason For being so vehemently opposed from his first Election to the Episcopal Office all opportunities espied to draw away the peoples hearts and alienate their affections from him every advantage taken against him during his absence from the City to vex and cross him in his doings what better way could he devise to secure himself in the affections of the people and the obedience of his Presbyters than to profess that in all his acts and enterprises whatsoever he did and would depend upon the counsel of the one and consent of the other And this is that which he professeth in a Letter to the Presbyters and Deacons of Carthage quod à primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim Idem Epist 6. nihil sine consilio vestro consensu plebis meae privatâ sententiâ gerere that he resolved from his first entrance on that Bishoprick to do nothing of his own head as we use to say without the Counsel of his Clergy and the consent of his People and that on his return for he was then in exile when he wrote this Letter he would communicate his affairs with them Et in commune tractabimus and manage them in common with their assistance And certainly this was a prudent resolution as the World went with him For by this means he stood assured that whatsoever Schism or Faction should be raised against him it would be never able to prevail or get ground upon him as long as he had both the People and the Presbyters so obliged unto him for the support of his authority But this being but a private case and grounded on particular reasons makes no general Rule no Bishop being bound unto the like by this Example but where all circumstances do concur which we meet with here and then not bound neither except he will himself but as it doth conduce to his own security So that it is to me a wonder why the example of St. Cyprian should be pressed so often and all those passages so hotly urged wherein the Presbyters or People seem to be concerned in matters of the Churches Government as if both he and all other Bishops had been bound by the Law of God not to do any thing at all in their holy function but what the Presbyters should direct and the people yield their suffrage and consent unto For being but a resolution taken up by him the better to support himself against his Adversaries it obligeth no man to the like as before I said And he himself did not conceive himself so obliged thereby but that he could and did dispense with that resolution as often as he thought it necessary or but expedient so to do performing many actions of importance in the whole course and Series of his Episcopal Government wherein he neither craved the advice of the one nor the good liking of the other and which is more doing some things not only without their knowledg but against their wills as we shall make appear in that which followeth Now whereas the points of most importance in the Government and Administration of the Church are the Election of Bishops the Ordination of Ministers the Excommunicating of the Sinner and the reconciling of the Penitent it will not be amiss to see what and how much in each of these St. Cyprian did permit as occasion was either unto the People or the Presbyters and what he did in all and every one of these as often as he saw occasion also without their knowledg and consent First for Election of their Bishops it is conceived and so delivered that all their Elections were ordered by the privity Semctymn pag. 33. Sect. 7. consent and approbation of the people where the Bishop was to serve and for the proof of this St. Cyprian is alledged as one sufficient in himself to make good the point The place most commonly alledged is in his 68. Epistle touching the Case of Basilides and Martialis two Spanish Bishops who had defiled themselves with Idols and many other grievous Crimes concerning whom the people of those parts repaired unto him for his resolution But he remitting the cause back to them tells them how much it did concern them A peccatore Praeposito se separare to separate themselves from such sinful Prelates and not to participate with them in the Sacrifice Cypr. Ep 68. giving this reason for the same quando ipsa maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi because the people specially have power either of chusing worthy Prelates or of rejecting the unworthy For that by Sacerdotes here the Father understandeth Bishops Smectymn p. 33. is confessed on all hands Nor doth the Father only say it but he goeth forward to make good the same by Divine Authority ut Sacerdos plebe praesente that the Bishop should be chosen in the presence of the People under all mens eyes that so he may be proved to be fit and worthy by their publick testimony And for the proof of this is urged a Text from Moses in the book of Numbers where God is said to speak thus to Moses Apprehende Aaron fratrem tuum Take Aaron thy brother and Eleazar his son and thou shalt bring them to the Mount before all the Assembly and put off Aarons garments and put them on Eleazar his son By which it is apparent that God willeth the Priest to be made before all the multitude shewing thereby that the Priest should not be ordained but in the presence of the People that so the People being present the offences of the evil may be detected and the merits of the good made known and consequently the Election or rather Ordination may be good and lawful being discussed by the opinion and voice of all
fratres charissimi Cypr. Ep. 33. vii l. 2. Ep. 5. solemus vos ante consulere mores merita singulorum communi consilio ponderare which is full and large Whatever he saith elsewhere to the same effect is in effect no more than what here is said and therefore we shall save the labour of a further search Nor was this Cyprians custom only It had prevailed as it seems in most parts of Christendom and was so universally received that even the Roman Emperours took notice of it For Alexander Severus one of the hopefullest young Princes in the declining times of the Roman Empire noting this custom of the Christians Lamprid. in vita Alex. Siveri was wont when he promoted any unto the Government of Provinces to post up as it were the names of the persons inviting the People to come in against them if they could charge them on just proof with any crimes And used to say it were a shame not to observe that care in chusing of the Rulers of Provinces to whom mens lives and fortunes were to be committed cum id Christiani Judaei facerent in praedicandis sacerdotibus qui sunt ordinandi when as the Jews and Christians did it in publishing the merit of those Priests which were to be ordained by them Which kind of publication of the life and merits of the party that was to be Ordained may possibly relate as well unto the popular manner of Electing Bishops at that time in use But as there is no general observation but doth and must give way unto particular occasions so neither was this Rule so generally observed but that sometimes it was neglected Even Cyprian himself how much soever it concerned him to continue in the Peoples favour would many times make use of his own authority in chusing and ordaining men to Functions and Employments in the Church without consulting with the People or making them acquainted with his mind therein Cypr. Ep. 33. For minding to advance Aurelius unto the Office of a Reader an Office but no Order in the Church of God he tarried not the Peoples liking and consent but did it first and after gave them notice of it not doubting of their taking it in good part quod vos scio libenter amplecti and so commends him to their Prayers Id. Epi. 34. The like we find of Celerinus a man highly prized admitted first into the Clergy by him and his Colleagues then present with him in his exile and then acquainteth the People that he had so done non humana suffragatione sed divina dignatione not being guided in it by any humane suffrage but by Gods appointment And although Celerinus and Aurelius being known unto the People by their former merits the matter might be taken with the less resentment yet this no way can be affirmed of Numidicus who being before a Presbyter in some other Church Baron in Annal Anno 253. n. 94. Cypr. Ep. 35. as Baronius very well observeth and in all likelihood utterly unknown de facie to those of Carthage was by Saint Cyprian of his sole authority without consulting either with Presbyters or People for ought which doth appear taken into the number of the Presbyters of that Church ut nobiscum sedeat in Clero and so to have a place together with the Bishop himself amongst the Clergy of the same and that we do not find as yet in Saint Cyprians Writings that the People had any special power either in the Election or Ordination of their Presbyters more than to give testimony of their well deservings or to object against them if they were delinquent And more than that is still remaining to them in the Church of England in which the People are required at all Ordinations Book of Ordination that if they know any notable crime in any of them which are to be Ordained for which he ought not to be received into the Ministery to declare the same and on the declaration of the same the Bishop must desist from proceeding further This is as much as was permitted to them in the Primitive times for ought I perceive and yet the Church of England gives them more than this the Presbyter who is to serve the Cure in particular Churches being elected by the Patrons of them for and in the name of the rest of the People As for the power of Excommunication I do not find but that St. Cyprian reckoned of it as his own prerogative a point peculiar to the Bishop in which he neither did advise either with the Presbyters or People When as the wickedness of Felicissimus the leader of the Faction raised against him was grown unto the height the Father of his own authority denounced him Excommunicant abstentum se à nobis sciat Cypr. Ep. 38. vel l. 5. Ep. 1. as the phrase then was as he did also on Augendus and divers others of that desperate party committing the execution of his sentence to Herculanus and Caldonius two of his Suffragan Bishops and to Rogatianus and Numidicus two of the Presbyters of his charge whom as for other matters so for that he had made his Substitutes or Commissaries if you will Cum ego vos pro me Vicarios miserim as the words are And they accordingly being thus authorized proceed in execution of the same and that in a formality of words which being they present unto us the ancient form of the Letters of Excommunication used of old Apud Cypr. Epist 39. I will here lay down Abstinuimus communicatione Felicissimum Augendum item Repostum de extorribus Irenem Rutilorum Paulam Sarcinatricem quod ex annotatione mea scire debuistis In which we may observe that this Excommunication was so published that all the residue of the Clergy to whom the publication of it was committed might take notice of it quod ex Annotatione mea or nostra rather as Pamelius very probably conjectureth scire debuistis So that the process of the whole is this that those Incendiaries were denounced excommunicate by St. Cyprian himself the execution of it left to those above remembred whom he had authorized in that behalf and they accordingly proceeding made certificate of it unto the Clergy of Carthage that publication might be made thereof unto the People Which differs very little in effect from what is now in use amongst us Nor did St. Cyprian do thus only of himself de facto but he adviseth Rogatianus one of his neighbouring Bishops to exercise the like authority as properly belonging to his place de jure Rogatianus had complained as it seems Cyp. Ep. 65. of some indignities and affronts which had been offered to him by his Deacon which his respect in making his complaint unto him as Cyprian took exceeding kindly so he informeth him withal that he had the Law in his own hands and that pro Episcopatus vigore Cathedrae authoritate haberet potestatem qua
posset de illo statim vindicari by vigour of his Episcopal function and the Authority of his Chair he had power enough to be straightway avenged of him for the same Yet being the matter was referred unto him he declares his thoughts that if the Deacon whom he writ of would repent his folly and give some humble satisfaction to the offended Bishop he might not do amiss to remit the fault But if he did provoke him further by his perverse and petulant behaviour fungeris circa eum potestate honoris tui ut eum vel deponas vel abstineas he should exercise the authority of his place or honour and either degrade or excommunicate him as he saw occasion Here was no sending to the Clergy to have their advice no offering of the matter unto their better consideration but all referred unto the Bishop to do therein as unto him seemed best of his own authority So that both Cyprian and other Bishops both might and did and durst do many things without advising with the Clergy contrary to what some have told us And this they might do well enough without dread or fear Smectymn sect 9. p. 38. Ibid. that any of their Sentences might be made irrita or void by the fourth Council of Carthage which was not held until 130 years and upwards after Cyprian's death And for the interest of the People in these publick Censures I find them not at all considered but where the crime was hainous and the Church scandalized by the sins and lewdness of the party punished In which case there was such regard had of them that the Sentence was published in facie Ecclesiae in the full Congregation of Gods people And that as well that they might the more heartily detest such scandalous and sinful courses as that they might eschew his company and conversation as they would do the company of an Heathen or of a Publican Tunc se ab ejus conjunctione salubriter continet Aug. cont Ep. Parmen lib. 3. cap. 2. ut nec cibum quisquam cum eo sumat not one of them so much as eating with the man who is so accursed Which as they are St. Austins words so by the tenor of the place they seem to intimate St. Cyprians practice So that if Excommunications had not passed in former times Smectymn p. 40. without the knowledge and approbation of the body of the Church to which the delinquent did belong as some men suppose it was upon this reason only as themselves affirm because the people were to forbear Communion with such And being that in the Church of England the Excommunication of notorious sinners is publickly presented unto the knowledg of the People for that very reason because they should avoid the company of Excommunicated persons I see not any thing in this particular I mean as to the publication of the Sentence in which the Church of England differs from the Primitive and ancient practice And did our Bishops keep the power of Excommunicating to themselves alone and not devolve it upon others they did not any thing herein but what was practised by Saint Cyprian For Reconciling of the Penitent which naturally and of course is to come after Excommunication I find indeed that many times St. Cyprian took along with him the counsel and consent both of his Presbyters and People And certainly it stood with reason that it should so be that as the whole Church had been scandalized at the heinousness of the offence so the whole Church also should have satisfaction in the sincerity of the Repentance Many and several are the passages in this Fathers Writings which do clearly prove it none more exactly than that in his Epistle to Cornelius where wishing that he were in presence when perverse persons did return from their sins and follies Videres quis mihi labor sit persuadere patientiam fratribus nostris Cypr. Ep. 55. you would then see saith he what pains I take to persuade our brethren that suppressing their just grief of heart recipiendis malis curandisque consentiant they would consent to the receiving and the curing consequently of such evil members Yet did he not so tie himself to this observance but that sometimes according as he saw occasion unus atque alius obnitente plebe contradicente mea tamen facilitute suscepti sunt some though not many had been reconciled and reimbosomed with the Church not only without the Peoples knowledg but against their wills So that the interesse which the People had in these relaxations of Ecclesiastical Censures were not belonging to them as in point of right but only in the way of contentation The leading voice was always in the Bishop and so the negative voice was also when it came to that He was to give his fiat first before the Clergy had any thing to do therein St. Cyprian telling of himself Id. Ibid. quam prompta plena dilectione that he received such Penitents as came unto him with such affection and facility that by his over-much indulgence to them pene ipse delinque he was even culpable himself And if it were no otherwise in his time with the Church of Carthage in this case there it appears to be in the third Council there assembled the Bishop had not only the leading voice but the directing and disposing power Concil Car. III. cap. 32. a negative voice into the bargain For there it is ordained Vt Presbyter Episcopo inconsulto non reconciliet Poenitentem that the Presbyters were not to reconcile a Penitent unless it were in the Bishops absence or in a case of urgent and extream necessity as in point of death it being there declared withal that it belonged unto the Bishop Ibid. c. 31. poenitentiae tempora designare to appoint the time and the continuance of the Penance as he saw occasion And this to be the practice of S. Cyprians time is most clear and evident by the displeasure he conceived against some Presbyters who had admitted men which before were lapsed without leave from him to the blessed Sacrament Cypr. Ep. 10. A matter which he aggravates to the very height charging them that neither mindful of the Gospel nor their own place and station nor of the future day of Judgment nor of the authority of him their Bishop they had admitted such as fell in time of persecution to the Churches Sacraments not being by him authorized so to do And this he saith was sure an insolency quod nunquam omnino sub Antecessoribus factum which never had been done in any of his Predecessors times and being now done cum contumelia contemptu Praepositi was done in manifest contempt and reproach of their Bishop threatning withal that if they did persist in these wilful courses he would make use of that authority qua me uti Dominus jubet which God had given him for that purpose viz. suspend them from their Ministery and bring them
to a publick tryal for their misdemeanours before himself and all the People 'T is true indeed that in the outward action and formality of this great work of Reconciliation the Clergy did impose hands with the Bishop upon the head of him that was reconciled Epist 10.11 c. for we find often in St. Cyprian Manus ab Episcopo clero imposita but this was only as I said before in the outward action the power of admitting him unto that estate and giving way to his desires in making of him capable of so great a favour belonging only to the Bishop as before appears Thus have we seen how and in what particulars as also upon what considerations Saint Cyprian communicated some part of his Episcopal Authority either unto the Presbyters or to the People or to both together We will next look on those particulars which he reserved wholly and solely to himself and they concern his Clergy chiefly in his behaviour towards whom in matters of reward and punishment he was as absolute and supream as ever any Bishop since his time And first in matter of reward the greatest honour whereof the Clergy in his time were capable was their place of sitting distinct and separate from the People A place by Sozomon Sozom. l. 5. c. 14. Concil Laodi Can. 55. Canon Sacerdot distinct 2. Cypr. Ep. 35. called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it were the Sacrarie by the Council of Laodicea entituled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by reason it was higher than the rest that all the people might behold it by others Presbyterium the place for Presbyters but by what names soever called a place it was appointed for the Bishop and his Clergy only Into this place St. Cyprian admits Numidicus a stranger to the Church of Carthage as before was noted from Baronius but by him added to the number of the Presbyters there adscriptus Presbyterorum Carthaginiensium numero as his own phrase is that so he might enjoy the honour of that place with the less distast And so for point of maintenance which was another part of the Reward that did belong to the Laborious and painful Presbyter the distribution of the same was wholly in the Bishops power So wholly in his power that howsoever it belonged unto none of right but unto the Presbyters yet he having bestowed on Celerinus and Aurelius the place of Readers in the Church did also give unto them or assign the same full maintenance Id. Epi. 34. which was allowed to any of the Presbyters Presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam Sciatis ut sportulis iisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur divisiones menstruas aequatis portionibus partiantur Know you saith he in an Epistle to the whole Church of Carthage that we have assigned them to the full honour of Presbyters appointing that they should receive the same proportion of allowance and have as great a share in the monthly dividends as any of the Presbyters had Where by the way this portion or allowance had the name of Sportula from the reward or fees which anciently were allowed to Judges and by that name are mentioned in the Civil Laws which being assigned to the Presbyters pro singulorum meritis according to the merits of the persons to some more some less at the discretion of the Bishop gave them the name of Fratres sportulantes whereof we read in Cyprian Ep. 66. And they were called divisiones mensurnae the monthly Dividends because that as the contributions of the people were made once every month menstrua quaque die as Tertullian a Presbyter of this Church hath told us so as it seems Tertul. in Apolog c. 36. the Dividend was made accordingly as soon as the mony had been brought to the Bishops hands So also in the way of punishment when any of the Clergy had offended the Bishop had Authority to withdraw his maintenance and with-hold his stipend For when complaint was made to Cyprian of Philumenus and Fortunatus two of his Sub-deacons Cypr. Ep. 28. and of Favorinus an Acolythite qui medio tempore recesserunt who formerly had forsook their calling and now desired to be restored again unto it although he neither would nor could determine in it before he had consulted with his Colleagues and the whole body of his People the matter being great and weighty yet in the mean time he suspends them from their monthly pay interim se à divisione mensurna tantum contineant as he there resolves it leaving the cause to be determined of at better leasure This was a plain suspension à Beneficio and could he not suspend ab Officio also Assuredly he both could and did as appears evidently by his proceeding with these Presbyters who had entrenched upon his jurisdiction as before was said Whose great offence though he reserved unto the hearing both of the Confessors themselves and the whole body of the People for a final end yet in the mean time prohibeantur interim offerre Idem Ep. 10. it was his pleasure to suspend them for the Ministery from their attendance at the Altar Suspend them then he might there 's no doubt of that but might he not if he saw cause deprive them also He might assuredly or otherwise he had never given that counsel to Rogatianus that if the Deacon formerly remembred did not repent him of his faults eum vel deponat vel abstineat Idem Ep. 65. he either might deprive or excommunicate him which he would himself He were a very greedy Bishop who would not be content with that allowance of Authority which S. Cyprian had The like authority he used towards the People also not suffering them to be remembred in the Churches Prayers if they had broken or infringed the Churches Canons And this appeareth by the so celebrated case of Geminius Victor who at his death had made Geminius Faustinus one of the Presbyters of Carthage tutorem testamento suo Idem Ep. 66. the Executor of his last Will and Testament which being like to be a means whereby Faustinus might be taken off from his employment in the Ministery the displeased Bishop doth declare ne deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in Ecclesia frequentetur that he should neither be remembred in the Offertory nor any Prayer be made in his name in the Church And this he did upon this reason ne quis Sacerdotes Ministros Dei Altari ejus Ecclesiae vacantes ad seculares molestias devocet that none hereafter should presume to withdraw the Priest and Ministers of God from their attendance at the Altar in the Churches service unto the cares and troubles of the world Which passage as it shews expresly the great tye which the Bishops of those times had upon the Conscience of the People whom they could punish thus after death it self So is it frequently alledged Smectym p. 46. to shew that neither Presbyters nor Bishops were to be molested
this time when as Gods people which were scattered up and down the Countrey did either come unto the Cities there to be made partakers of the Word and Sacraments in which the Bishop was at hand to attend all businesses or that the Presbyters were by the Bishop sent into the Countrey with more or less authority intrusted to them as the business was And for the other power the power of Order although it was no other than before it was as to the power and faculty conferred upon the Presbyters in their Ordination yet did they find a great enlargement and extension of it in the free execution of the same For whereas formerly as was observed both from Ignatius and Tertullian and some other Ancients Vide Chap. 1. Chap. 3. of this 2d part the Presbyter could not baptize nor celebrate the blessed Eucharist sine Episcopi authoritate without the leave and liking of the Bishop who then was near at hand to be asked the question after this time the Presbyters became more absolute in their ministration baptizing celebrating preaching and indeed what not which potestate ordinis did belong unto him only by vertue of that general faculty which had been granted by the Bishop at his Institution I mean his special designation to that place or Cure And yet the Bishops did not so absolutely invest the Presbyters with a power of Order in the administration of the Sacraments as not to keep unto themselves a superiour Power whereby the execution of that Power of Order together with a confirmation of such acts as had been done by vertue of the same might generally be observed to proceed from them And of this kind especially was that rite or ceremony which now we call by the particular name of Confirmation being called anciently impositio manuum the laying on of hands For howsoever the original institution of it be far more ancient and Apostolical as most think yet I conceive it neither was so frequent nor so necessary in the former times as in those that followed For when the Sacrament of Baptism either was administred to men grown in years or by the Bishop himself in person or in his presence at the least he giving his Fatherly and Episcopal blessing to the work in hand the subsequent laying on of hands which we call Confirmation might not seem so necessary Or if it did yet commonly it was administred with Baptism as a Concomitant thereof Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. n. 66. Tertul. de Baptismo c. 7. to confirm and perfect that which the Grace of the Spirit had already begun in Baptism And so we are to understand Tertullian where having spoken before of Baptism he addeth next Dehinc manus imponitur per benediciionem advocans invitans Spiritum sanctum c. Then saith he followeth imposition of hands with invocation and invitation of the holy Ghost which willingly cometh down from the Father to rest upon the purified and blessed bodies acknowledging as it were the Waters of Baptism for a fit seat And so long as they went together and were both commonly performed by the same Minister that is the Bishop there was the less notice taken of it and possibly the less efficacy ascribed unto it But when they came once to be severed as in the necessary absence of the Bishop they had been before and on this setting out of Parishes were likely for the most part to be after the Bishops out of their abundant care of the Churches welfare permitted that which was most necessary to the common Presbyter reserving that which was more honorary to themselves alone Thus was it in the first case in St. Cyprians time who lived as was before observed Vid. Ch. 4. of this 2d part in a kind of voluntary exile as did also divers other Bishops in the heat and violence of persecutions during whose absence from their Cities and their much distance from the Countrey there is no question to be made but that the Presbyters performed their Office in administration of that Sacrament and after which there is little question but that the Children so baptized were at some time or other brought for Confirmation Certain I am that to him they were brought to be confirmed and that he grounds the Institution of that Right on the example of Peter and John Cypr. Epist 73. in the Eighth Chap. of the Acts. Illi qui in Samaria crediderant c. The faithful in Samaria saith he had already received Baptism Only that which was wanting Peter and John supplyed by Prayer and imposition of hands to the end the holy Ghost might be poured on them Then adds Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur which also is done amongst our selves when they which be already baptized are brought unto the Prelates of the Church Praepositis âcclesiae offeruntur that by our Prayer and Imposition of our hands they may receive the holy Ghost and be strengthened by the seal of the Lord. And in the second case Hier. advers Luciferianos it is whereof Hierom speaketh where he observeth it to be the custom of the Church ut ad eos qui longè in minoribus urbibus per Presbyteros Diaconos baptizati sunt Episcopus ad invocationem Spiritus Sancti manum impositurus excurrat that the Bishop should go abroad as in Visitation and imposing hands pray for the gift of the Holy Ghost on them who far off in the lesser Cities as also in Viculis Castellis in small Towns and Villages had by the Presbyters and Deacons been baptized But note withal that Hierom tells us that this imposition of hands was reserved only to the Bishop ad honorem potius sacerdotii quam ad legis necessitatem not that the Sacrament of Baptism was not perfect and compleat without it but rather out of a certain congruity and fitness to honour Prelacy with such preheminencies the safety of the Church depending upon the dignity of the chief Priest or Bishop By which it doth appear to be St. Hieroms opinion Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. n. 66. as Hooker excellently collects That the Holy Ghost is received in Baptism that Confirmation is only a Sacramental complement that the reason why Bishops alone did ordinarily confirm was not because the benefit grace and dignity thereof was greater than of Baptism but rather for that by the Sacrament of Baptism men being admitted into Gods Church it was both reasonable and convenient that if he baptize them not unto whom the chiefest authority and charge of their souls belongeth yet for Honours sake and in token of his spiritual superiority over them because to bless is an act of Authority the performance of this annexed Ceremony should be sought for at his hands What other reasons there are for it in reference to the parties that receive the same I forbear to specifie as not conducing to the History of Episcopacy which I have in hand to which estate
the honour of giving Confirmation hath always been reserved to this very day Another thing which followed upon this setting forth of Parishes by Dionysius was the institution of a new Order in the Church betwixt the Bishop and the Presbyter being neither of the two but both Those they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Rural Bishops Of which being that there were two sorts according to the times and Ages when they were imployed we must distinguish them accordingly Now of these Chorepiscopi or Countrey Bishops some in the point and power of Order were no more than Presbyters having received no higher Ordination than to that function in the Ministery but were inabled by the Bishop under whom they served to exercise some parts of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction as much as was thought fit to commit unto them for the better reiglement of the Church And these I take it were more ancient than the present times appointed as the Bishops Visitors to go abroad into the Countrey to parts more remote to oversee such Presbyters as had been sent forth for the instruction of the people in small Towns and Villages and to perform such further Offices which the ordinary Presbyter for want of the like latitude of Jurisdiction was defective in Con. Neo-Caesaviens Can. 13. These I conceive to be of the same nature with our Rural Deans in some parts of England And these are they which in the Council of Neo-Caesarea are said to be ordained ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã after the manner of the Seventy and if no more than so then but simply Presbyters in the power of Order though ranked above them in regard of their Jurisdiction To which Pope Damasus agreeth also affirming quod ipsi iidem sunt qui Presbyteri Damas Ep. 5. ap Bin. Concil T. 1. Bellarm. de Clericis l. 1. c. 17. that they are the very same with Presbyters being first ordained ad exemplum Septuaginta after the example of the Seventy Others there were whom we find furnished with a further power qui verè Episcopalem consecrationem acceperant which really and truly had received Episcopal Consecration and yet were called Chorepiscopi because they had no Church nor Diocess of their own sed in aliena Ecclesia ministrabant but executed their authority in anothers charge And these saith Bellarmine are such as we now call Titular or Suffragan Bishops such as those heretofore admitted in the Church of England whereof consult the Act of Parliament 26 H. 8. cap. 14. Now that they had Episcopal consecration appeareth evidently by the Council of Antioch where it is said expresly of them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that they had received the Ordination of Bishops Conc. Anti. cap. 10. and so by vertue of their Ordination might execute all manner of Episcopal Acts which the Bishop of the City might perform And to this Power they were admitted on two special reasons whereof the first was to supply the absence of the Bishop who being intent upon the business of the City where his charge was greatest could not so well attend the business of the Countrey or see how well the Presbyters behaved themselves in their several Parishes to which upon the late division they were sent abroad And this is called in the said Council of Antioch Id. Ibid. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the looking to the Administration of the Churches under their authority The other was to content such of the Novatian Bishops who rather would continue in their schism and faction than return unto the Catholick Church with the loss of the honour and calling which they had before whom they thought fit if they were willing to return to the Church again to suffer in the state of a Chorepiscopus And this is that which was so prudently resolved on in the Council of Nice in which fifteen of those which assembled there were of this Order or Estate viz. Conc. Nicen. can 8. That if any of them did return to the Catholick Church either in City or Village wherein there was a Bishop or a Presbyter before provided ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he should enjoy the place and honour of a Presbyter but if that pleased him not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he should be fitted with the Office of a Chorepiscopus Which being the true condition of those Chorepiscopi it seems to me a plain and evident mistake that the Chorepiscopus who was but a Presbyter Smectymn pag. 36. should be affirmed to have power to impose hands and to ordain within his Precincts with the Bishops licence For certainly it is apparent by the Council of Antioch that the Chorepiscopi which had power of conferring Orders had to that end received Episcopal consecration and consequently could not but be more than Presbyters though at the first indeed they medled not therewith without the leave and licence of the Bishop whose Suffragans and Substitutes they were But when they had forgot their ancient modesty and did not keep themselves within the bounds and limits appointed to them which was to make two Bishops in one Diocess contrary to the ancient Canons the Church thought fitting to reduce them to their first condition And thereupon it was decreed in the Council of Ancyra ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Conc. Ancyran can 13. that it should no more be lawful for them to ordain either Presbyters or Deacons that is to say as it was afterwards explained in the Council of Antioch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Conc. Antio can 10. without the liking of the Bishop under whom he served Howsoever that they might have somewhat of the Bishop in them they were permitted by that Canon to ordain Sub-Deacons Exorcists and Readers with which they were required to rest contented as also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to send abroad their Letters unto other Bishops Ibid. can 8. which they called Literas Formatas Communicatorias as before was noted as those that had the full authority and power of Bishops did use of old to do at their Ordinations A point of honour denied unto the ordinary Presbyters in that very Canon Now to proceed The next Successor unto Dionysius in the See of Rome Ibid. Sept. 18. is called Felix but no more happy in some things than his Predecessour the Heresie of Paulus Samosatenus taking beginning in the time or Government in the one that of the Manichees commencing almost with the other Hujus tempore Manes quidam gente Persa vita moribus barbarus c. During his time saith Platina arose one Manes Platina in vita Felicis by birth a Persian in life and manners a Barbarian who took upon him to be Christ gathering unto him Twelve Disciples for the dispersing of his frenzies In this he differed amongst many things from Samosatenus he making Christ to be no better than a man and Manes making a vile sinful man to be the Christ I know Baronius doth place the rising of this Manicbean Heresie
Clergy in the Church of of God hath been or is maintained with less charge to the Subject than the established Clergy of the Church of England Page 167 2. That there is no man in the Kingdom of England who payeth any thing of his own towards the maintenance and support of his Parish-Minister but by his Easter-Offering Page 171 3. That the change of Tithes into Stipends will bring greater trouble to the Clergy than is yet considered and far less profit to the Countrey than is now pretended Page 174 The History of Episcopacy PART I. CHAP. I. The Christian Church first founded by our Lord and Saviour in an imparity of Ministers 1. THE several Offices of Christ our Saviour in the Administration of his Church Page 187 2. The aggregating of Disciples to him Page 188 3. The calling of the Apostles out of them and why twelve in number ibid. 4. Of the Name and Office of an Apostle Page 189 5. What things were specially required unto the making of an Apostle Page 190 6. All the Apostles equal in Authority amongst themselves ibid. 7. The calling and approinting of the 70 Disciples Page 191 8. A reconciliation of some different Opinions about the number Page 192 9. The twelve Apostles superiour to the Seventy by our Saviours Ordinance ibid. 10. What kind of superiority it was that Christ interdicted his Apostles Page 193 11. The several powers faculties and preheminences given to the Apostles by our Saviour Christ Page 194 12. That the Apostles were Bishops averred by the ancient Fathers ibid. 13. And by the text of holy Scripture Page 195 CHAP. II. The foundation of the Church of Hierusalem under the Government of Saint James the Apostle and Simeon one of the Disciples the two first Bishops of the same 1. Matthias chosen in the place of Judas Page 196 2. The coming of the Holy Ghost and on whom it fell Page 197 3. The greatest measure of the Spirit fell on the Apostles and therewithal the greatest power ibid. 4. The several Ministrations in the Church then given and that in ranking of the same the Bishops are intended in the name of Pastors Page 198 5. The sudden growth of the Church of Hierusalem and making Saint James the first Bishop there ibid. 6. The former point deduced from Scripture Page 199 7. And proved by the general consent of Fathers ib. 8. Of the Episcopal Chair or throne of James and his Successors in Hierusalem Page 200 9. Simeon elected by the Apostles to succeed Saint James Page 201 10. The meaning of the word Episcopus and from whence borrowed by the Church ibid. 11. The institution of the Presbyters Page 202 12. What interest they had in the common business of the Church whilst St. James was Bishop ib. 13. The Council of Jerusalem and what the Presbyters had to do therein Page 203 14. The institution of the Seven and to what Office they were called ibid. 15. The names of Ecclesiastical Functions promiscuously used in holy Scripture Page 204 CHAP. III. The Churches planted by Saint Peter and his Disciples originally founded in Episcopacy 1. The founding of the Church of Antioch and that Saint Peter was the first Bishop there Page 205 2. A reconciliation of the difference about his next Successors in the same Page 206 3. A List of Bishops planted by him in the Churches of the Circumcision Page 207 4. Proofs thereof from St. Peters general Epistle to the Jews dispersed according to the exposition of the Ancient Writers ibid. 5. And from Saint Pauls unto the Hebrews Page 208 6. Saint Pauls Praepositus no other than a Bishop in the Opinion of the Fathers ibid. 7. Saint Peter the first Bishop of the Church of Rome Page 209 8. The difference about his next Successors there reconciled also ibid. 9. An Answer unto such Objections as have been made against Saint Peter's being Bishop there Page 210 10. Saint Mark the first Bishop of Alexandria and of his Successors Page 221 11. Notes on the observations of Epiphanius and Saint Hierom about the Church of Alexandria Page 212 12. An observation of Saint Ambrose applyed unto the former business ibid. 13. Of Churches founded by Saint Peter and his Disciples in Italy France Spain Germany and the Isle of Britain and of the Bishops in them instituted Page 213 CHAP. IV. The Bishoping of Timothy and Titus and other of Saint Pauls Disciples 1. The Conversion of Saint Paul and his ordaining to the place of an Apostle Page 214 2. The Presbyters created by Saint Paul Acts 14. of what sort they were Page 215 3. Whether the Presbyters or Presbytery did lay on hands with Paul in any of his Ordinations Page 216 4. The people had no voice in the Election of those Presbyters by Saint Paul ordained Page 217 5. Bishops not founded by Saint Paul at first in the particular Churches by him planted and upon what reasons ibid. 6. The short time that the Churches of Saint Pauls Plantation continued without Bishops over them Page 218 7. Timothy made Bishop of Ephesus by Saint Paul according to the general consent of Fathers Page 219 8. The time when Timothy was made Bishop according to the holy Scripture Page 220 9. Titus made Bishop of Cretans and the truth verified herein by the antient Writers Page 221 10. An Answer unto some Objections against the subscription of the Epistle unto Titus ibid. 11. The Bishoping of Dionysius the Areopagite Aristarchus Gaius Epaphroditus Epaphras and Archippus Page 222 12. As also of Silas Sosthenes Sosipater Crescens and Aristobulus Page 223 13. The Office of a Bishop not incompetible with that of an Evangelist ibid. CHAP. V. Of the Authority and Jurisdiction given unto Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops by the Word of God 1. The authority committed unto Timothy and Titus was to be perpetual and not personal only Page 224 2. The power of Ordination intrusted only unto Bishops by the Word of God according to the exposition of the Fathers Page 225 3. Bishops alone both might and did ordain without their Presbyters Page 226 4. That Presbyters might not ordain without a Bishop proved by the memorable case of Colluthus and Ischyras ibid. 5. As by those also of Maximus and a Spanish Bishop Page 227 6. In what respects the joint assistance of the Presbyters was required herein Page 228 7. The case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas objected and declared ibid. 8. The care of ordering Gods Divine Service a work peculiar to the Bishop Page 229 9. To whom the Ministration of the Sacraments also doth in chief belong Page 230 10. Bishops to have a care that Gods Word be preached and to encourage those that take pains therein ibid. 11. Bishops to silence and reprove such Presbyters as preach other Doctrines Page 231 12. As also to correct and reject the Heretick ibid. 13. The censure and correction of inferiour Presbyters in point of life and conversation doth
belong also to Bishops 14. And of Lay-people if they walk unworthy of their Christian calling ibid. 15. Conjectural proofs that the description of a Bishop in the first to Timothy is of a Bishop strictly and properly called Page 233 CHAP. VI. Of the estate of holy Church particularly of the Asian Churces toward the later days of Saint John the Apostle 1. The time of Saint Johns coming into Asia Page 235 2. All the seven Churches except Ephesus of his Plantation ibid. 3. That the Angels of those Churches were the Bishops of them in the opinion of the Fathers Page 236 4. And of some Protestant Divines of name and eminency ibid. 5. Conclusive Reasons for the same Page 237 6. Who is most like to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus ibid. 7. That Polycarpus was the Angel of the Church of Smyrna Page 238 8. Touching the Angel of the Church of Pergamus and of Thiatyra ibid. 9. As also of the Churches of Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea Page 239 10. What Successors these several Angels had in their several Churches Page 240 11. Of other Churches founded in Episcopacy by Saint John the Apostle ibid. 12. Saint John deceasing left the Government of the Church to Bishops as to the Successours of the Apostles Page 241 13. The ordinary Pastors of the Church Page 242 14. And the Vicars of Christ Page 243 15. A brief Chronologic of the estate of holy Church in this first Century Page 244 PART II. CHAP. I. What doth occur concerning Bishops and the Government of the Church by them during the first half of the second Century 1. OF the condition of the Church of Corinth when Clemens wrote unto them his Epistle Page 249 2. What that Epistle doth contain in reference to this point in hand Page 250 3. That by Episcopi he meaneth Bishops truly and properly so called proved by the scope of the Epistle Page 251 4. And by a text of Scripture therein cited ibid. 5. Of the Episcopal Succession in the Church of Corinth Page 252 6. The Canons of the Apostles ascribed to Clemens what they say of Bishops Page 253 7. A Bishop not to be ordained under three or two at least of the same Order ibid. 8. Bishops not barred by these Canons from any Secular affairs as concern their Families Page 254 9. How far by them restrained from the employments of the Common-wealth ibid. 10. The jurisdiction over Presbyters given to the Bishops by those Canons Page 255 11. Rome divided into Parishes or tituli by Pope Euaristus Page 256 12. The reasons why Presbyteries or Colleges of Presbyters were planted first in Cities ibid. 13. Touching the superiority over all the flock given to the Bishop by Ignatius Page 257 14. As also of the Jurisdiction by him allowed them Page 258 15. The same exemplified in the works of Justin Martyr Page 259 CHAP. II. The setling of Episcopacy together with the Gospel in the Isle of Britain by Pope Eleutherius 1. What Bishops Egesippus met with in his Peregrination and what he testifieth of them Page 260 2. Of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth and of the Bishops by him mentioned ibid. 3. How Bishops came to be ordained where none were left by the Apostles Page 261 4. The setling of the Gospel in the Isle of Britain by Pope Eleutherius Page 262 5. Of the Condition of the Church of Britain from the first preaching of the Gospel there till the time of Lucius Page 263 6. That Lucius was a King in those parts of Britain which we now call England Page 264 7. Of the Episcopal Sees here founded by King Lucius at that time Page 265 8. Touching the Flamines and Arch-flamines which those Stories speak of ibid. 9. What is most like to be the reason of the number of the Arch-bishopricks and Bishopricks here of old established Page 266 10. Of the Successors which the Bishops of this Ordination are found to have on true Record Page 267 11. Which of the British Metropolitans was antiently the Primate of that Nation Page 268 CHAP. III. The Testimony given to Episcopal Authority in the last part of this second Century 1. The difference betwixt Pope Victor and the Asian Bishops about the Feast of Easter Page 269 2. The interpleading of Polycrates and Irenaeus two renowned Prelates in the aforesaid cause Page 270 3. Several Councils called about it by the Bishops of the Church then being with observations on the same ibid. 4. Of the Episcopal Succession in the four prime Sees for this second Century Page 271 5. An Answer to some Objections made against the same Page 272 6. The great authority and esteem of the said four Sees in those early days ibid. 7. The use made of this Episcopal Succession by Saint Irenaeus Page 273 8. As also in Tertullian and some other Antients Page 274 9. Of the authority enjoyed by Bishops in Tertullians time in the administration of the Sacraments Page 275 10. As also in enjoyning Fasts and the disposing of the Churches treasury ibid. 11. And in the dispensation of the Keys Page 276 12. Tertullian misalledged in maintenance of the Lay-Presbytery Page 277 13. The great extent of Christianity and Episcopacy in Tertullians time concludes this Century Page 278 CHAP. IV. Of the Authority in the Government of the Church of Carthage enjoyed and exercised by Saint Cyprian and other Bishops of the same 1. Of the foundation and preheminence of the Church of Carthage Page 279 2. Of Agrippinus and Donatus two of Saint Cyprian's Predecessors ibid. 3. The troublesome condition of that Church at Cyprian's first being Bishop there Page 280 4. Necessitated him to permit some things to the discretion of his Presbyters and consent of the People Page 281 5. Of the Authority ascribed by Cyprian to the People in the Election of their Bishop Page 282 6. What power the People had de facto in the said Elections ibid. 7. How far the testimony rf the People was required in the Ordination of their Presbyters Page 283 8. The power of Excommunication reserved by Saint Cyprian to the Bishop only Page 284 9. No Reconciliation of a Penitent allowed by Cyprian without the Bishops leave and licence Page 285 10. The Bishop's power as well in the encouragement as in the punishment and censure of his Clergy Page 286 11. The memorable case of Geminius Faustinus one of the Presbyters of Carthage Page 287 12. The Bishop's power in regulating and declaring Martyrs Page 288 13. The Divine Right and eminent Authority of Bishops fully asserted by Saint Cyprian Page 289 CHAP. V. Of the condition and affairs of the two Patriarchal Churches of Alexandria and Antiochia 1. Of the foundation and first Professors of the Divinity-School in Alexandria Page 290 2. What is affirmed by Clemens one of those Professors concerning Bishops Page 291 3. Origen the Divinity Reader there permitted to expound the Scriptures in the presence of the Bishop of Caesarea ibid. 4. Contrary to
Rituals The Papists of the two the more moderate Adversary and such whose edg was sooner taken off from the prosecution of the Quarrel than the others were For though the first Liturgy of King Edward the sixth compiled by many Learned and Religious persons was cryed up both by Act of Parliament 2.3 âd 6. cap. 1. and by Fox himself as done by the especial aid of the holy Ghost yet it gave no small offence to some scrupulous Men who relished nothing that related to the Antient Forms And when by the Authority of Calvin the opposition in conformity of Bishop Hooper and the great power and policy of John Earl of Warwick after Duke of Northumberland it was brought under a Review and altered in such things as were thought offensive yet then it would not down neither with those tender stomachs Witness the troubles raised to the English Church at Francford in Queen Maries days by Knox Whittingham and their Associates at their returning from Geneva and the definitive sentence of Calvin in it to whom it was thought good to refer the Difference And he accordingly declares to content his followers In Liturgia Anglicana multas esse tolerabiles ineptias that he found in it very many tolerable follies Calv. Epist Anno 15 55. Reliquias Papisticae faecis the very dregs of Popery as he afterwards calls it Brought to a Review in Queen Elizabeths time and purged of a passage in the Letany which gave distast unto the Papists it grew into such general esteem and reputation as being fitted to the common Principles of Christianity in which all parties did agree that Pius the fourth Anno 1560. made offer by Parpatio Abbot of St. Saviours whom he sent with Letters to the Queen Liturgiam Anglicam Authoritate sua confirmaturum Cambd. in Annal Eliz. to ratifie and confirm the same by his Authority The Scots obliged themselves by a publick Subscription to observe the same Religionis cultui Ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserant as we read in Buchannan the fancy of Extemporary Prayer not being then taken up Histor Scot. lib. 19. as is affirmed by Knox himself in his Scottish History So grateful was it for a time to all sorts of people that the Papists for the first ten years of Queen Elizabeths Reign did diligently frequent the Church and attend the publick Services and performance of it as is affirmed by Sir Edward Coke in his charge given at the Assizes held at Norwich and in his Speech against Garnet and the other Traytors Anno 1605. And this not spoken on vulgar hear-say but on his own certain knowledg and observation he having noted Bedding field Cornwallis and divers others of that party to repair frequently to the Church without any scruple And though we may take this well enough on so good Authority yet may it possibly find more credit because averr'd by Queen Elizabeth herself in her Instructions to Sir Francis Walsingham bearing date August 11. Anno 1570. In which it is affirmed expresly of the Heads of that party and therefore we may judge the like of the Members also that they did ordinarily resort from the beginning of her Reign in all open places to the Churches and to divine services in the Church without contradiction or shew of misliking But in the year 1568. Sanders and others of the Popish Emissaries began to practise on that party under pretence of doing service to the Catholick Cause as Button Bellingham Compl. Embassad l. 4. and Benson sticklers for the Genevian Interesse did upon those who were inclinable to their Opinions And they so far prevailed on their several Partisans Cambd. Annal 1568. that about two years after upon the coming out of the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus against the Queen the Papists generally withdrew themselves from that conformity and came no longer to our Churches as before they had done And on the other side the Puritans as they then began to call them animated by Cartwright and the rest of their Leaders did separate themselves also from the Congregation declaming in their frequent Pamphlets against the Liturgy as superstitious and impure and altogether savouring of the Romish Missals Favoured underhand by Arch-bishop Grindal and openly countenanced by the Earl of Leicester they became so confident at the last that some of their Leaders being demanded by an Honourable Counsellor if the abolition of some Ceremonies would not serve their turn they answered with arrogancy enough Ne ungulam esse relinquendam that they would not leave so much as a Hoof behind But notwithstanding this strong vapour partly by the constancy and courage of Arch-bishop Whitgift who succeeded Grindal Anno 1583. the opportune death of the Earl their Patron Anno 1588. and the incomparable pains of judicious Hooker Anno 1595. but principally by the seasonable Execution of Copping and Hacker hanged at St. Edmondsbury in Suffolk for publishing the Pamphlets of Rob. Brown against the Book of Common Prayer pouer publier le liveres de Rob. Brown en countre le Livre de Commune Prayer as Compton doth report the Case in his Lawyers French they become so quiet Compton in his Office of Justices that the Church seemed to be restor'd to some hopes of peace No Libelling or Seditious preachings no great disturbance after this for some years together the Brethren turning their assaults into underminings and enterprising that by practice which they had found impossible to be gained by violence By which means having formed their party prepared their way by some new Libels back'd by the Scots and countenanced by some leading members in both Houses of Parliament Anno 1640. they brake out again the Smectymnuans openly appearing in the way of Argument while others of more Brains and Power managed the business for them in their several Houses The Liturgy by the one affirmed to have been intended by the first Reformers to be an help only to the want or weakness of a Minister and not to be imposed on any but such as would confess themselves unable to pray without it by some resembled unto Crutches and such like helps to insufficiency not to be made use of but by those only who otherwise could make no use of their legs reproached by their vulgar followers with the name of Pottage a dish to stay their stomachs till the meat came in all Offices of Piety reduced to Preaching and all Devotion to the Prayer of the Preachers making To this extremity were things brought when for the reasons elsewhere specified I took in hand the Answer to the Humble-Remonstrance Pref. to the Tract of Liturgies in which I found the whole building as to this particular to be laid on this foundation viz. that if by Liturgy we understand prescribed and stinted Forms of Administration composed by some and imposed upon all the rest Smectym Answ pag. 6. then they are sure that no such Liturgy had been used anciently by
the Gift of Prayer as much kept in where the matter of the Prayer is prescribed unto us as when we are prescribed also in the form and words And secondly whereas it seems to be intended that Ministers should use no Form of Prayer before their Sermons or in any other part of worship but such as they call Conceived extemporary or unpremeditated Prayers though by the way all Conceived prayer require some premeditation Few of those Men who have conformed themselves to the Rules of the Directory have ventured on the Exercise of the Gift of Prayer most of them using certain and Set Forms of their own Composing and some not only using such Set Forms memoriter or without book as we use to say but reading them in their books or papers as they lie before them As great a stinting of the Spirit as contrary to the free Exercise of the Gift of Prayer as any publick Liturgy or Set Form of Worship can be thought to be But that which is most worth our noting is that those very Men who composed the Directory and laboured so industriously in abolishing all Set Forms of Worship by the Ordinance of the third of January should within a while after publish some Set Forms of Prayer to be used by such as were at Sea A supply of Prayer for the Ships Quo teneam nodo This is just fast and loose pretty sport for children For though it be pretended that these Set Forms are to be used only in the want of Ministers yet then it must be supposed withal that none but Ministers have the Gift of Prayer or if they have are not to be permitted the free exercise and use thereof as they see occasion which I conceive the Lay-brethren will not thank them for who think themselves as well Gifted as the Presbyters do Or if it be to be supposed it is to be supposed only in common Cases when no sense of extraordinary danger or approaching Ruine can quicken the dull spirits of Men to the free and voluntary acts of invocation to which the tempestuousness of the Sea and unavoidable fears of a sudden death give so many advantages that there cannot be a better Tutor to teach men to pray Insomuch that it grew into a proverb in the elder times Qui nescit orare discat navigare that he who knew not how to to pray should undertake some Voyage by Sea and there he would be sure to learn it Which shews that there was somewhat else which these good Men aimed at in crying down the publick Liturgie than the free exercise and use of the Gift of Prayer which few of them make use of now they have their ends in it and what that was it shall not be long before I tell you For if we look back into the busie times of Queen Elizabeths Reign we shall find there were some secret workings amongst those of the Puritan or Presbyterian party to draw all the power and Riches of the Church into their own hands And to this end the Ministers so bestirred themselves that as they had invaded the Government and Jurisdiction of the Church by setting up their Presbyters in several places so they resolved that the people should depend upon them alone as for prayer and preaching and all the other exercises of their Religion A thing which could not be effected if the Liturgy were not first abolish'd which of necessity must bring their own conceived prayers as they use to call them into estimation and make them the sole Rule and Rubrick of all publick Worship by means whereof they were sure to get that absolute Sovereignty in the peoples Consciences which in their practices and preachings they had so long aimed at But on the other side the Lay-brethren had their Ends in it also hoping that if they could destroy the Liturgy it would be no hard matter for them to ingross the Tithes unto themselves and to put their Ministers off with arbitrary Pensions as in other places Tithes being as they gave it out a Jewish imposition not to be laid upon free Subjects in the times of the Gospel never intended for the maintenance of a Preaching Ministery but of a Sacrificing Priesthood And so far they might seem to have the truth on their side that the first Tithes which were ever taken were not received with reverence to preaching to or instructing the people but with relation unto praying for them or offering up to God the daily and commanded Sacrifices in their behalf When Melchisedech took Tithes of Abraham it was not for any pains he had taken in preaching to him or instructing his little Army but for praying to God for his Blessings on them for the Text only tells us that he blessed Abraham praising God for his good success against his Enemies Gen. 14.19..20 and for performing that Office had the Tithes of all And when Tithes were paid by Gods appointment to the Priests and Levites it was not for their Teaching Preaching or Exhorting for we find not that any such Offices were either required of them or performed by them but for their service in the Temple the offering the appointed and occasional Sacrifices performed with several kinds of Prayer agreeable to the occasion and the Spiritual necessities of that people Tithes therefore being the reward and maintenance of a praying not a preaching Ministery the Liturgy being taken away and Preaching made the main if not the sole work of the Minister there could no reason be alledged why the people might not withold their Tithes or why the Tithes might not be otherwise imployed as the State thought fit This business being resumed and more hotly followed in these latter times and some proposals set on foot for depriving the Ministers of their Tithes drawing them into some Common Treasuries and out of them allotting such maintenance to the Ministers as the necessities and wants of the State could spare I publish'd a Discourse entituled The undeceiving of the people in the point of Tithes and to my Preface to that Treatise do refer the Reader both for the motives which induced me having no ends of my own in it to that Undertaking the whole Design and Method of it and finally the Reasons why I did so disguise my name that I might not appear for the Author of it At this time I shall only add that Tithes being now the only remaining Patrimony which is left the Church for the encouragement and reward of a learned Ministery should they be also taken from it and the poor Clergy forced to depend on uncertain Stipends I see not what can follow thereupon but a gross night of Ignorance and Egyptian darkness especially in those who now hold out the light to others For certainly that saying of Panormitan will be always true Ad tenuitatem Beneficiorum necessaria sequitur ignorantia sacerdotum And if ignorance once possess the Priests I hope it will not be offensive if I use that name
Num. 2 3 4 5 6 Part 2. Cap. 1. Num. 10 c. Cap. 4 Numb 7. Cap. 5. Num. 5 6. Cap. 6. Num. 5 7. besides many other passages here and there interserted to the same effect that I shall save my self the trouble of adding any thing further to those Observations And to them therefore I refer the Reader for his satisfaction At this time I shall say no more but that the Church had never stood so constantly to Episcopal Government were it not for the great and signal benefits which redound unto it by the same Of which there is none greater or of more necessary use to Christianity than the preserving of a perpetual succession of Preists and Deacons ordained in a Canonical way to be Ministers of holy things to the rest of the people that is to say to Preach the Word Administer the Sacraments and finally to perform all other Divine and Religious Offices which are required of them by the Church in their several places Thus have I laid before thee good Christian Reader the Method and Design of this following Work together with the Argument and Occasion of each several Piece contained in it Which as I have done with all Faith and Candor in the sincerity of my Heart and for the Testimony of a good Conscience laying it with all humble reverence at the feet of those who are in Authority so with respective duty and affection I submit the same unto the judgment of which Persuation or Condition soever thou art for whose instruction in the several Points herein declared it was chiesly studied And I shall heartily beseech all those who shall please to read it that if they meet with any thing therein which either is less fitly spoken or not clearly evidenced they would give me notice of it in such a charitable and Christian way as I may be the better for it and they not the worse Which favour if they please to do me they shall be welcome to me as an Angel of God sent to conduct me from the Lands of error into the open ways of truth And doing these Christian Offices unto one another we shall by Gods good leave and blessing not only hold the bond of external peace but also in due time be made partakers of the spirit of Vnity Which Blessing that the Lord would graciously bestow on his afflicted and distracted Church is no small part of our Devotions in the publick Liturgy where we are taught to pray unto Almighty God that he would please continually to inspire his universal Church with the spirit of Truth Vnity and Concord and grant that all they which do confess his holy Name may agree also in the truth of his holy Word and live in Vnity and godly Love Unto which Prayer he hath but little of a Christian which doth not heartily say Amen Lacies Court in Abingdon April 23. 1657. The Way of the REFORMATION OF THE Church of England DECLARED and JUSTIFIED c. THE INTRODUCTION Shewing the Occasion Method and Design of the whole discourse My dear Hierophilus YOUR company is always very pleasing to me but you are never better welcome han when you bring your doubts and scruples along with you for by that means you put me to the studying of some point or other whereby I benefit my self if not profit you And I remember at the time of your last being with me you seemed much scandalized for the Church of England telling me you were well assured that her Doctrine was most true and orthodox her Government conform to the Word of God and the best ages of the Church and that her publick Liturgie was an Extract of the Primitive Forms nothing in all the whole composure but what did tend to edification and Increase of piety But for all this you were unsatisfied as you said in the ways and means by which this Church proceeded in her Reformation alleding that you had heard it many times objected by some Partisans of the Church of Rome that our Religion was meer Parliamentarian not regulated by Synodical Meetings or the Authority of Councels as in elder times or as D. Harding said long since in his Answer unto B. Jewel That we had a Parliament Religion a Parliament Faith and a Parliament Gospel To which Scultinguis and some others after added that we had none but Parliament Bishops and a Parliament Clergy that you were apt enough to think that the Papists made not all this noise without some ground for it in regard you have observed some Parliaments in these latter days so mainly bent to catch at all occasions whereby no manifest their powers in Ecclesiastical matters especially in constituting the new Assembly of Divines and others And finally that you were heartily ashamed that being so often choaked with these Objections you neither knew how to traverse the ândictment nor plead Not guilty to the Bill Some other doubts you said you had relating to the King the Pope and the Protestant Churches either too little or too much look'd after in our Reformation but you were loth to trouble me with too much at once And thereupon you did intreat me to bethink my self of some fit Plaister for the sore which did oft afflict you religiously affirming that your desires proceeded not from curiosity or an itch of knowledge or out of any disaffection to the Power of Parliaments but meerly from an honest zeal to the Church of England whose credit and prosperity you did far prefer before your life or whatsoever in this world could be dear unto you Adding withal that if I would take this pains for your satisfaction and help you out of these perplexities which you were involved in I should not only do good service to the Church it self but to many a wavering member of it whom these objections had much staggered in their Resolutions In fine that you desired also to be informed how far the Parliaments had been interessed in these alterations of Religion which hapned in the Reigns of K. Hen. VIII K. Edw. VI. and Q. Elizabeth What ground there was for all this clamour of the Papists And whether the Houses or either of them have exercised of old any such Authority in matters of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual nature as some of late have ascribed unto them Which though it be a dangerous and invidious Subject as the times now are yet for your sake and for the truth's and for the honour of Parliaments which seem to suffer much in the Popish calumny I shall undertake it premising first that I intend not to say any thing to the point of Right whether or not the Parliament may lawfully meddle in such matters as concern Religion but shall apply my self wholly unto matters of Fact as they relate unto the Reformation here by law established And for my method in this business I shall first lay down by way of preamble the form of calling of the Convocation of the Clergy here in England that
Parliament that is might have the force of a Law by a civil Sanction The whole debate with all the Traverses and emergent difficulties which appeared therein are specified at large in the Records of Convocation Anno 1532. But being you have not opportunity to consult those Records I shall prove it by the Act of Parliament called commonly The Act of submission of the Clergy but bearing this Title in the Abridgment of the Statutes set out by Poulton That the Clergy in their Convocations shall enact no constitutions without the Kings assent In which it is premised for granted that the Clergy of the Realm of England had not only acknowledged according to the truth that the Convocation of the same Celrgy is always hath been and ought to be assembled always by the Kings Writ but also submitting themselves to the Kings Majesty had promised in verbo Sacerdotis That they would never from henceforth presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances provincial or other or by whatsoever other name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the Kings most Royal Assent may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same and that his Majesty do giv his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf Upon which ground-work of the Clergies the Parliament shortly after built this superstructure to the same effect viz. That none of the said Clergy from henceforth should presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons norshall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever names or names they may be called in their Convocations in time coming which always shall be assembled by the Kings Writ unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodical upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convicted to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the Kings Will 25 H. 8. c. 19. So that the Statute in effect is no more than this An Act to bind the Clergy to perform their promise to keep them fast unto their word for the time to come that no new Canon should be made in the times succeeding in the favour of the Pope or by his Authority or to the diminution of the Kings Royal Prerogative or contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm of England as many Papal Constitutions were in the former Ages Which Statute I desire you nto take notice of because it is the Rule and Measure of the Churches power in making Canons Constitutions or whatsoever else you shall please to call them in their Convocations The third and final Act conducing to the Popes Ejection was an Act of Parliament 28 H. 8 c. 10. entituled An Act extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome By which it was enacted That if any person should extol the Authority of the Bishop of Rome he should incur the penalty of a preamunire that every Officer both Ecclesiastioal and Lay should be Sworn to renounce the said Bishop and his Authority and to resist it to his power and to repute any Oath formerly taken in maintenance of the said Bishop or his Authority to be void and finally that the refusal of the said Oath should be judged High Treason But this was also usher'd in by the determination first and after by the practice of all the Clergy For in the year 1534. which was two years before the passing of this Act the King had sent this Proposition to be agitated in both Vniversities and in the greatest and most famous Monasteries of the Kingdom that is to say An aliquid authoritatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicunque Episcopo extero By whom it was determined Negatively that the Bishop of Rome had no more power of Right in the Kingdom of England than any other forreign Bishop Which being testified returned under the hands and seals respectively the Originals whereof are still remaining in the Library of Sr. Robert Cotton was a good preamble to the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy assembled in their Convocation to conclude the like And so accordingly they did and made an Instrument thereof subscribed by the hands of all the Bishops and others of the Clergy and afterwards confirmed the same by their corporal Oaths The copies of which Oaths and Instrument you shall find in Foxes Acts and Monumets Vol. 2. fol. 1203. and fol. 1210 1211. of the Edition of John Day Anno 1570. And this was semblably the ground of a following Statute 35 H. 8. c. 1. wherein another Oath was devised and ratified to be imposed upon the Subject for the more clear asserting of the Kings Supremacy and the utter exclusion fo the Popes for ever which Statutes though they were all repealed by an Act of Parliament 1 and 2 d. of Phil. and Mary c. 1. yet were they all revived in 1 Elize save that the name of supream Head was changed unto that of the supream Governour and certain clauses altered in the Oath of Supremacy Where by the way you must take notice that the Statutes which concern the Kings Supremacy are not introductory of any new Right that was not in the Crown before but only declaratory of an old as our best Lawyers tell us and the Statute of the 26 of H. 8. c. 1. doth clearly intimate So that in the Ejection of the Pope of Rome which was the firt and greatest steptowards the work of Reformation the Parliament did nothing for ought it appears but what was done before in the Convocation and did no more than fortifie the Results of Holy Church by the addition and corroboration of the Secular Power 3. Of the Translation of the Scriptures and permitting them to be read in the English Tongue THE second step towards the work of Reformation and indeed one of the most especial parts thereof was the Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue and the permitting all sorts of people to peruse the same as that which visibly did tend to the discovery of the errours and corruptions in the Church of Rome and the intolerable pride and tyranny of the Roman Prelates upon which grounds it had been formerly translated into English by the hand of Wickliff and after on the spreading of Luthers Doctrine by the pains of Tindal a stout and active man in K. Henries days but not so well befriended as the work deserved especially considering that it hapned in such a time when many Printed Pamphlets did disturb the State and some of them of Tindals making which seemed to tend unto sedition and the change of Government Which being remonstrated to the King he caused divers of his Bishops together with sundry of the Learned'st and
in their Convocations as well by the common assent as by subscriptions of their hands 5 6. Edw. 6. chap. 12. And for the time of Q. Elizabeth it is most manifest that they had no other body of Doctrine in the first part of her Reign then only the said Articles of K. Edward's Book and that which was delivered in the Book of Homilies of the said Kings time In which the Parliament had as little to do as you have seen they had in the Book of Articles But in the Convocation of the year 1562. being the fifth of the Q. Reign the Bishops and Clergy taking into consideration the said book of Articles and altering what they thought most fitting to make it more conducible to the use of the Church and the edification of the people presented it unto the Queen who caused it to be published with this Name and Title viz. Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London Anno 1562. for the avoiding of diversity of Opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion put forth by the Queens Authority Of any thing done or pretended to be done by the power of the Parliament either in the way of Approbation or of Confirmation not one word occurs either in any of the Printed Books or the Publick Registers At last indeed in the 13th of the said Queens Reign which was 8 years full after the passing of those Articles comes out a Statute for the Redressing of disorders in the Ministers of holy Church In which it was enacted That all such as were Ordained Priests or Ministers of God's Word and Sacraments after any other form then that appointed to be used in the Church of England all such as were to be Ordained or permitted to Preach or to be instituted into any Benefice with Cure of souls should publickly subscribe to the said Articles and testifie their assent unto them Which shews if you observe it well that though the Parliament did well allow of and approve the said Book of Articles yet the said Book owes neither confirmation nor authority to the Act of Parliament So that the wonder is the greater that that most insolent scoff which is put upon us by the Church of Rome in calling our Religion by the name Parliamentaria-Religio should pass so long without controle unless perhaps it was in reference to our Forms of Worship of which I am to speak in the next place But first we must make answer unto some Objections which are made against us both from Law and Practice For Practice first it is alledged by some out of Bishop Jewel in his Answer to the Cavil of Dr. Harding to be no strange matter to see Ecclesiastical Causes debated in Parliament and that it is apparent by the Laws of King Ina King Alfred King Edward c. That our Godly Fore-fathers the Princes and Peers of this Realm never vouchsafed to treat of matters touching the Common State before all Controversies of Religion and Causes Ecclesiastical had been concluded Def. of the Apol. part 6. chap. 2. sect 1. But the answer unto this is easie For first if our Religion may be called Parliamentarian because it hath received confirmation and debate in Parliament then the Religion of our Fore-fathers even Papistry it self concerning which so many Acts of Parliament were made in K. Hen. 8. and Q. Maries time must be called Parliamentarian also And secondly it is most certain that in the Parliaments or Common-Councils call them which you will both of King Inas time and the rest of the Saxon Kings which B. Jewel speaks of not only Bishops Abbots and the higher part of the Clergy but the whole Body of the Clergy generally had their Votes and Suffrages either in person or by proxie Concerning which take this for the leading Case That in the Parliament or Common-Council in K. Ethelberts time who first of all the Saxon Kings received the Gospel the Clergy were convened in as full a manner as the Lay-Subjects of that Prince Convocati Communi Concilio tam Cleri quam Populi saith Sir H. Spelman in his Collection of the Councils Anno 605. p. 118. And for the Parliament of King Ina which leads the way in Bishop Jewel it was saith the same Sr. H. Spelman p. 630. Communi Concilium Episcoporum Procerum Comitum nec non omnium Sapientum Seniorum Populorumque totius Regni Where doubtless Sapientes and Seniores and you know what Seniores signifieth in the Ecclesiastical notion must be some body else then those which after are expressed by the name of Populi which shews the falshood and absurdity of the collection made by Mr. Pryn in the Epistle to his Book against Dr. Cousins viz. That the Parliament as it is now constituted hath an ancient genuine just and lawful Prerogative to establish true Religion in our Church and to abolish and suppress all false new and counterfeit Doctrines whatsoever Unless he means upon the post fact after the Church hath done her part in determining what was true what false what new what ancient and finally what Doctrines might be counted counterfeit and what sincere And as for Law 't is true indeed that by the Statute 1 Eliz. cap. 1. The Court of Parliament hath power to determine and judge of Heresie which at first sight seems somewhat strange but on the second view you will easily find that this relates only to new and emergent Heresies not formerly declared for such in any of the first four General Councils nor in any other General Cuncil adjudging by express words of holy Scripture as also that in such new Heresies the following words restrain this power to the Assent of the Clergy in their Convocation as being best able to instruct the Parliament what they are to do and where they are to make use of the secular sword for cutting off a desperate Heretick from the Church of CHRIST or rather from the Body of all Christian people 5. Of the Reformation of the Church of England in the Forms of Worship and the Times appointed thereunto THIS Rub removed we now proceed unto a view of such Forms of Worships as have been setled in this Church since the first dawning of the day of Reformation in which our Parliaments have indeed done somewhat though it be not much The first point which was altered in the publick Liturgies was that the Creed the Pater-noster and the Ten Commandements were ordered to be said in the English Tongue to the intent the people might be perfect in them and learn them without book as our Phrase is The next the setting forth and using of the English Letany on such days and times in which it was accustomably to be read as a part of the Service But neither of these two was done by Parliament nay to say truth the Parliament did nothing in them All which was done in either of them
was only by the King's Authority by vertue of the Headship or Supremacy which by way of recognition was vested in him by the Clergy either co-operating and concurring with them in their Convocations or else directed and assisted by such learned Prelates with whom he did advise in matters which concerned the Church and did relate to Reformation By virtue of which Headship or Supremacy he ordained the first and to that end caused certain Articles or Injunctions to be published by the Lord Cromwel then his Viear General Anno 1536. And by the same did he give order for the second I mean for the saying of the Letany in the English Tongue by his own Royal Proclamation Anno 1545. For which consult the Acts and Monuments fol. 1248 1312. But these were only preparations to a greater work which was reserved unto the times of K. Edw. 6. In the beginning of whose Reign there passed a Statute for the administring the Sacrament in both kinds to any person that should devoutly and humbly desire the same 1 E. 6. c. 1. In which it is to be observed that though the Statute do declare that the ministring of the same in both kinds to the people was more agreeable to the first Institution of the said Sacrament and to the common usage of the primitive Times Yet Mr. Fox assures us and we may take his word that they did build that Declaration and consequently the Act which was raised upon it upon the judgment and opinion of the best learned men whose resolution and advice they followed in it fol. 1489. And for the Form by which the said most blessed Sacrament was to be delivered to the common people it was commended to the care of the most grave and learned Bishops and others assemby the King at His Castle of Windsor who upon long wise learned and deliberate advice did finally agree saith Fox upon one godly and uniform zOrder for receiving of the same according to the right rule of Scriptures and the first use of the primitive Church fol. 1491. Which Order as it was set forth in Print Anno 1548. with a Proclamation in the name of the King to give Authority thereunto amongst the people so was it recommended by special Letters writ unto every Bishop severally from the Lords of the Council to see the same put in execution A copy of which Letters you may find in Fox fol. 1491. as afore is said Hitherto nothing done by Parliament in the Forms of Worship but in the following year there was For the Protector and the rest of the Kings Council being fully bent for a Reformation thought it expedient that one uniform quiet and godly Order should be had throughout the Realm for Officiating God's divine Service And to that end I use the words of the Act it self appointed the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the Realm to meet together requiring them that having as well eye and respect to the most pure and sincere Christian Religion taught in Scriptures as to the usages in the Primitive Church they should draw and make one convenient and meet Order Rite and fashion of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments to be had and used in this his Majesties Realm of England Well what did they being thus assembled that the Statute tells us Where it is said that by the aid of the Holy Ghost I pray you mark this well and with one uniform agreement they did conclude upon and set forth an Order which they delivered to the Kings Highness in a Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the use of the Church of England All this was done before the Parliament did any thing But what was done by them at at last Why first considering the most godly travel of the King's Highness and the Lord Protector and others of his Highness Council in gathering together the said B. and learned men Secondly The Godly Prayers Orders Rites and Ceremonies in the said Book mentioned Thirdly The motive and inducements which inclined the aforesaid learned men to alter those things which were altered and to retain those things which were retained And finally taking into consideration the honour of God and the great quietness which by the grace of God would ensue upon it they gave his Majesty most hearty and lowly thanks for the same and most humbly prayed him that it might be ordained by his Majesty with the assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same that the said Form of Common-Prayer and no other after the Feast of Pentecost next following should be used in all his Majesties Dominions with several penalties to such as either should deprave or neglect the same 2 and 3. E. 6. cap. 1. So far the very words of the Act it self By which it evidently appeareth that the two Houses of Parliament did nothing in the present business but impose that Form upon the people which by the learned and religious Clergy-men whom the K. appointed thereunto was agreed upon and made it penal unto such as either should deprave the same or neglect to use it And thus doth Poulton no mean Lawyer understand the Statute who therefore gives no other title to it in his Abridgement publish'd in the year 1612. than this The penalty for not using uniformity of Service and Ministration of the Sacrament So then the making of one uniform Order of celebrating divine Service was the work of the Clergy the making of the Penalties was the work of the Parliament Where let me tell yu by the way that the men who were employed in this weighty business whose names deserve to be continued in perpetual memory were Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury George Day Bishop of Chichester Thomas Goodrich B. of Ely and Lord Chancellour John Ship Bishop of Hereford Henry Holbeck Bishop of Lincoln Nicholas Ridley Bishop of Rochester translated afterwards to London Thomas Thirlby Bishop of Westminster Dr. May Dean of St. Pauls Dr. Taylor then Dean afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Hains Dean of Exeter Dr. Robertson afterwards Dean of Durham Dr. Redman Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Dr. Cox then Almoner to the King afterward Dean of Westminster and at last Bishop of Ely men famous in their generations and the honour of the Age they lived in And so much for the first Liturgy of King Edwards Reign in which you see how little was done by Authority or power of Parliament so little that if it had been less it had been just nothing But some exceptions being taken against the Liturgy by some of the preciser sort at home and by Calvin abroad the Book was brought under a review And though it had been framed at first if the Parliament which said so erred not by the ayd of the Holy Ghost himself yet to comply with
the curiosity of the Ministers and mistakes of the people rather than for any other weighty cause As the Statutes 5 and 6 Ed. 6. cap. 1. it was thought expedient by the King with the assent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled that the said Order of Common Service should be faithfully and godly perused explained and made fully perfect Perused and explained by whom Why questionless by those who made it or else by those if they were not the same men who were appointed by the King to draw up and compose a Form of Ordination for the Use of the Church And this Assent of theirs for it was no more was the only part that was ever acted by the Parliament in matter of this present nature save that a Statute passed in the former Parliament 3 and 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. unto this effect that such form and manner of making and consecrating Arch-Bishops Bishops Priests Deacons and other Ministers of the Church which before I spake of as by six Prelates and six other men of this Realm learned in Gods Laws by the King to be appointed and assigned shall be devised to that purpose and set forth under the great Seal shall be lawfully used and exercised and none other Where note that the King only was to nominate and appoint the men the Bishops and other learned men were to make the Book and that the Parliament in a blind obedience or at the least upon a charitable confidence in the integrity of the men so nominated did confirm that Book before any of their Members had ever seen it though afterwards indeed in the following Parliament this Book together with the Book of Common-prayer so Printed and explained obtained a more formal confirmation as to the use thereof throughout the Kingdom but in no other respect for which see the Statute 5 and 6 Ed. 6. c. 1. As for the time of Q. Elizabeth when the Common-prayer book now in use being the same almost with the last of King Edward was to be brought again into the Church from whence it was cast out in Queen Maries Reign it was committed to the care of some learned men that is to say to M. Whitehead once Chaplain to Q. Anne Bullen Dr. Parker after Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Dr. Grindal after Bishop of London Dr. Cox after Bishop of Ely Dr. Pilkington after Bishop of Durham Dr. May Dean of Saint Pauls Dr. Bill Provost of Eaton after Dean of Westminster and Sir Tho. Smith By whom being altered in some few passages which the Statute points to 1 Eliz. c. 21. it was presented to the Parliament and by the Parliament received and established without more ado or troubling any Committee of both or either Houses to consider of it for ought appears in their Records All that the Parliament did in it being to put it into the condition in which it stood before in Kings Edwards Reign partly by repealing the Repeal of King Edw. Statutes made in the first of Q. Mary c. 2. and partly by the adding of some farther penalties on such as did deprave the Book or neglect to use it or wilfully did absent themselves from their Parish-Churches And for the Alterations made in King James his time being small in the Rubrick only and for the additions of the Thanksgivings at the end of the Letany the Prayer for the Queen and the Royal Issue and the Doctrine of the Sacraments at the end of the Catechisme which were not in the Book before they were never referred unto the Parliament but were done only by Authority of the Kings Commission and stand in force by virtue only of His Proclamation which you may find before the Book the charge of buying the said Book so explained and altered being laid upon the several and respective Parishes by no other Authority than that of the eightieth Canon made in Convocation Anno 1603. The like may also be affirmed of the Forms of Prayer for the Inauguration-day of our Kings and Queens the Prayer-books for the fifth of November and the fifth of August and those which have been used in all publick Fasts All which without the help of Parliaments have been composed by the Bishops and imposed by the King Now unto this discourse of the Forms of Worship I shall subjoyn a word or two of the times of Worship that is to say the Holy-days observed in the Church of England and so observed that they do owe that observation chiefly to the Churches power For whereas it was found in the former times that the number of the Holy-days was grown so great that they became a burthen to the common people and a great hinderance to the thrift and manufactures of the Kingdom there was a Canon made in the Convocation An. 1536. For cutting off of many superstitious and superfluous Holy-days and the reducing them into the number in which they now stand save that St. George's day and Mary Magdalens day and all the Festivals of the blessed Virgin had their place amongst them according to which Canon there went out a Monitory from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to all the Suffragans of his Province respectively to see the same observed in their several Diocesses which is still extant on Record But being the Authority of the Church was then in the wane it was thought necessary to confirm their Acts and see execution done upon it by the Kings Injunction which did accordingly come forth with this Form or preamble That the abolishing of the said Holy-days was decreed ordained and established by the Kings Highness Authority as Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England with the common consent and assent of the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation lawfully Assembled and Congregate Of which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1246 1247. Afterwards in the year 1541. the King perceiving with what difficulty the people were induced to leave off those Holy-days to which they had been so long accustomed published his Proclamation of the twenty-third of July for the abolishing of such Holy-days amongst other things as were prohibited before by his Injunctions both built upon the same foundation namely the resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation And so it stood until the Reign of King E. 6. at which time the Reformation of the publick Liturgie drew after it by consequence an alteration in the present business no days being to be kept or accounted Holy but those for which the Church had set apart a peculiar office and not all those neither For whereas there are several and peculiar offices for the day of the Conversion of St. Paul and the day of St. Barnabas the Apostles neither of these are kept as Holy-days nor reckoned or esteemed as such in the Act of Parliament wherein the names and number of the Holy-days is precisely specified which makes some think the Act of Parliament to have had an over-ruling power on the Common-prayer-Book but it is not so
came out in some years succeeding for the taking away of Images and Reliques with all the Ornaments of the same and all the Monumens and writings of feigned Miracles and for restraint of offering or setting up Lights in any Churches but only to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in which he was directed chiefly by Arch-Bishop Cranmer as also those for eating of white meats in the time of Lent the abolishing the Fast on St. Marks day and the ridiculous but superstitious sports accustomably used on the days of St. Clement St. Katherine and St. Nicholas All which and more was done in the said Kings Reign without help of Parliament For which I shall refer you to the Acts and Mon. fol. 1385 1425 1441. The like may also be affirmed of the Injunctions published in the name of K. E. 6. An. 1547. and printed also then for the Use of the Subjects And of the several Letters missive which went forth in his Name prohibiting the bearing of Candles on Candlemas-day of Ashes in Lent and of Palms on Palm-sunday for the taking down of all the Images throughout the Kingdom for administring the Communion in both kinds dated March 13 1548. for abrogating of private Masses June 24 1549. for bringing in all Missals Graduals Processionals Legends and Ordinals about the latter end of December of the same year for taking down of Altars and setting up Tables instead thereof An. 1550. and the like to these All which particulars you have in Foxes Book of Acts and Mon. in King Edwards life which whether they were done of the Kings meer motion or by advice of his Council or by consultation with his Bishops for there is little left upon Record of the Convocations of that time more than the Articles of the year 1552 certain I am that there was nothing done nor yet pretended to be done in all these particulars by the Authority of Parliament Thus also in Q. Elizabeths time before the new Bishops were well settled and the Queen assured of the affections of her Clergy she went that way to work in the Reformation which not only her two Predecessors but all the Godly Kings and Princes in the Jewish State and many of the Christian Emperours in the Primitive times had done before her in the well ordering of the Church and People committed to their care and government by Almighty God and to that end she published her Injunctions An. 1559. A Book of Orders An. 1561. Another of Advertisements An. 1562. All tending unto Reformation unto the building up of the new Jerusalem with the advice and counsel of the Metropolitan and some other Godly Prelates who were then a-about her by whom they were agreed on and subscribed unto before they were presented to her without the least concurrence of her Court of Parliament But when the times were better settled and the first difficulties of her Reign passed over she left Church-work to the disposing of Church-men who by their place and calling were most proper for it and they being met in Convocation and thereto Authorised as the Laws required did make and publish several Books of Canons as viz. 1571. An. 1584. An. 1597. Which being confirmed by the Queen under the broad Seal of England were in force of Laws to all intents and purposes which they were first made but being confirmed without those formal words Her Heirs and Successors are not binding now but expired together with the Queen No Act of Parliament required to confirm them then nor never required ever since on the like occasion A fuller evidence whereof we cannot have than in the Canons of year 1603. being the first year of King James made by the Clergy only in the Convocation and confirmed only by the King for though the old Canons were in force which had been made before the submission of the Clergy as before I shewed you which served in all these wavering and unsettled times for the perpetual standing rule of the Churches Government yet many new emergent cases did require new rules and whilst there is a possibility of Mali mores there will be a necessity of bonae Leges Now in the confirmation of these Canons we shall find it thus That the Clergy being met in their Convocation according to the Tenour and effect of his Majesties Writ his Majesty was pleased by virtue of his Prerogative Royal and Supream Authority in causes Ecclesiastical to give and grant unto them by his Letters Patents dated April 12. and June 25. full free and lawful liberty licence power and authority to convene treat debate consider consult and agree upon such Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should think necessary fit and convenient for the honour and service of Almighty God the good and quiet of the Church and the better government thereof from time to time c. to be kept by all persons within this Realm as far as lawfully being members of the Church it may concern them which being agreed on by the Clergy and by them presented to the King humbly requiring him to give his Royal assent unto them according to the Statute made in the 25 of K. H. 8. and by his Majesties Prerogative and Supream Authority in Ecclesiastical causes to ratifie and confirm the same his Majesty was graciously pleased to confirm and ratifie them by his Letters Patents for himself his Heirs and lawful Successors straightly commanding and requiring all his loving Subjects diligently to observe execute and keep the same in all points wherein they do or may concern all or any of them No running to the Parliament to confirm these Canons nor any question made till this present by temperate and knowing men that there wanted any Act for their confirmation which the law could give them 7. An Answer to the main Objections of either Party BUT against this all which hath been said before it will be objected That being the Bishops of the Church are fully and wholly Parliamentarian and have no more Authority and Jurisdiction nisi à Parliamentis derivatum but that which is conferred upon them by the power of Parliaments as both Sanders and Schultingius do expresly say whatsoever they shall do or conclude upon either in Convocation or in more private conferences may be called Parliamentarian also And this last calumny they build on the several Statutes 24 H. 8. c. 12. touching the manner of Electing and Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops that of the 1 E. 6. c. 2. appointing how they shall be chosen and what Seals they shall use these of 3 and 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. 5. 6 E. 6. for Authorizing of the Book of Ordination But chiefly that of the 8 Eliz. c. 1. for making good all Acts since 1 Eliz. in Consecrating any Arch Bishop or bishop within this Realm To give a general answer to each several cavil you may please to know that the Bishops as they now stand in the Church of England derive their Calling together with
their Authority and power in Spiritual matters from no other hands than those of Christ and his Apostles their Temporal honours and possessions from the bounty and affection only of our Kings and Princes their Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in causes Matrimonial Testamentary and the like for which no action lieth at the common Law from continual usage and prescription and ratified and continued unto them in the Magna Charta of this Realm and owe no more unto the Parliament than all sort of Subjects do besides whose Fortunes and Estates have been occasionally and collaterally confirmed in Parliament And as for the particular Statutes which are touched upon that of the 24 H. 8. doth only constitute and ordain a way by which they might be chose and consecrated without recourse to Tome for a confirmation which formerly had put the Prelates to great charge and trouble but for the form and manner of their Consecration the Statute leaves it to those Rites and Ceremonies wherewith before it was performed and therefore Sanders doth not stick to affirm that all the Bishops which were made in King Henries days were Lawfully and Canonically ordained and consecrated the Bishops of that time not only being acknowledged in Queen Maries days for lawful and Canonical Bishops but called on to assist at the Consecration of such other Bishops Cardinal Pool himself for one as were promoted in her Reign whereof see Masons Book de Minist Ang. l. c. Next for the Statute 1 E. 6. cap. 2. besides that it is satisfied in part by the former Answer as it relates to their Canonical Consecrations it was repealed in Terminis in the first of Queen Maries Reign and never stood in force nor practice to this day That of the Authorizing of the Book of Ordination in two several Parliaments of that King the one à parte ante and the other à parte post as before I told you might indeed seem somewhat to the purpose if any thing were wanting in it which had been used in the formula's of the Primitive times or if the Book had been composed in Parliament or by Parliament-men or otherwise received more Authority from them then that it might be lawfully used and exercised throughout the Kingdom But it is plain that none of these things were objected in Queen Maries days when the Papists stood most upon their points the Ordinal being not called in because it had too much of the Parliament but because it had too little of the Pope and relished too strongly of the Primitive piety And for the Statute of 8 of Q. Elizabeth which is chiefly stood on all that was done therein was no more than this and on this occasion A question had been made by captious and unquiet men and amongst the rest by Dr. Bonner sometimes Bishop of London whether the Bishops of those times were lawfully ordained or not the reason of the doubt being this which I marvel Mason did not see because the book of Ordination which was annulled and abrogated in the first of Queen Mary had not been yet restored and revived by any legal Act of Queen Elizabeths time which Cause being brought before the Parliament in the 8th year of her Reign the Parliament took notice first that their not restoring of that Book to the former power in terms significant and express was but Casus omissus and then declare that by the Statute 5 and 6 E. 6. it had been added to the Book of Common-prayer and Administration of the Sacraments as a member of it at least as an Appendant to it and therefore by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. was restored again together with the said Book of Common-prayer intentionally at the least if not in Terminis But being the words in the said Statute were not clear enough to remove all doubts they therefore did revive now and did accordingly Enact That whatsoever had been done by virtue of that Ordination should be good in Law This is the total of the Statute and this shews rather in my judgment that the Bishops of the Queens first times had too little of the Parliament in them than that they were conceived to have had too much And so I come to your last Objection which concerns the Parliament whose entertaining all occasions to manisest their power in Ecclesiastical matters doth seem to you to make that groundless slander of the Papists the more fair and plausible 'T is true indeed that many Members of both Houses in these latter Times have been very ready to embrace all businesses which are offered to them out of a probable hope of drawing the managery of all Affairs as well Ecclesiastical as Civil into their own hands And some there are who being they cannot hope to have their sancies Authorized in a regular way do put them upon such designs as neither can consist with the nature of Parliaments nor the Authority of the King nor with the privileges of the Clergy nor to say truth with the esteem and reputation of the Church of Christ And this hath been a practice even as old as Wickliffe who in the time of K. R. 2. addressed his Petition to the Parliament as we read in Walsingham for the Reformation of the Clergy the rooting out of many false and erroneous Tenets and for establishing of his own Doctrines who though he had some Wheat had more Tears by odds in the Church of England And lest he might be thought to have gone a way as dangerous and unjustifiable as it was strange and new he laid it down for a position That the Parliament or Temporal Lords where by the way this ascribes no Authority or power at all to the House of Commons might lawfully examine and reform the Disorders and Corruptions of the Church and a discovery of the errors and corruptions of it devest her of all Tithes and Temporal endowments till she were reformed But for all this and more than this for all he was so strongly backed by the Duke of Lancaster neither his Petition nor his Position found any welcome in the Parliament further than that it made them cast many a longing eye on the Churches patrimony or produced any other effect towards the work of Reformation which he chiefly aimed at than that it hath since served for a precedent to Penry Pryn and such like troublesome and unquiet spirits to disturb the Church and set on foot those dreams and dotages which otherwise they durst not publish And to say truth as long as the Clergy were in power and had Authority in Convocation to do what they would in matters which concerned Religion those of the Parliament conceived it neither safe nor fitting to intermeddle in such business as concerned the Clergy for fear of being questioned for it at the Churches Bar. But when that Power was lessened though it were not lost by the submission of the Clergy to K. H. 8. and by the Act of the Supremacy which ensued upon it then did the Parliaments
Saxons by such as he employed in that Holy work The instances whereof dispersed in several places of our English Histories and other Monuments and Records which concern this Church are handsomely summed up together by Sir Edward Cook in the fifth part of his Reports if I well remember but I am sure in Cawdries Case entituled De Jure Regis Ecclesiastico And though Parsons the Jesuite in his Answer unto that Report hath took much pains to vindicate the Popes Supremacy in this Kingdom from the first planting of the Gospel among the Saxons yet all he hath effected by it proves no more than this That the Popes by permission of some weak Princes did exercise a kind of concurrent jurisdiction here with the Kings themselves but came not to the full and entire Supremacy till they had brought all other Kings and Princes of the Western Empire nay even the Emperors themselves under their command So that when the Supremacy was recognized by the Clergy in their Convocation to K. H. 8. it was only the restoring of him to his proper and original power invaded by the Popes of these latter Ages though possibly the Title of Supream Head seemed to have somewhat in it of an Innovation At which Title when the Papists generally and Calvin in his Comment on the Prophet Amos did seem to be much scandalized it was with much wisdom changed by Q. Elizabeth into that of Supream Governour which is still in use And when that also would not down with some queasie stomacks the Queen her self by her Injunctions published in the first year of her Reign and the Clergy in their book of Articles agreed upon in Convocation about five years after did declare and signifie That there was no Authority in sacred matters contained under that Title but that only Prerogative which had been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures 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 to restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers as also to exclude thereby the Bishop of Rome from having any jurisdiction in the Realm of England Artic. 37. Lay this unto the rest before and tell me if you can what hath been acted by the Kings of England in the Reformation of Religion but what is warranted unto them by the practice and example of the most godly Kings of Jewry seconded by the most godly Emperours in the Christian Church and by the usage also of their own Predecessors in this Kingdom till Papal Usurpation carried all before it And being that all the Popes pretended to in this Realm was but Usurpation it was no Wrong to take that from him which he had no Right to and to restore it at the last to the proper Owner Neither prescription on the one side nor discontinuance on the other change the case at all that noted Maxim of our Lawyers that no prescription binds the King or Nullum tempus occurrit Regi as their own words are being as good against the Pope as against the Subject This leads me to the second part of this Dispute the dispossessing of the Pope of that Supream Power so long enjoyed and exercised in this Realm by his Predecessors To which we say that though the pretensions of the Pope were antient yet they were not primitive and therefore we may answer in our Saviours words Ab initio non fuit sic it was not so from the beginning For it is evident enough in the course of story that the Pope neither claimed nor exercised any such Supremacy within this Kingdom in the first Ages of this Church nor in many after till by gaining from the King the Investiture of Bishops under Henry the First the exemption of the Clergy from the Courts of Justice under Henry the Second and the submission of King John to the See of Rome they found themselves of strength sufficient to make good their Plea And though by the like artifices seconded by some Texts of Scripture which the ignorance of those times incouraged them to abuse as they pleased they had attained the like Supremacy in France Spain and Germany and all the Churches of the West Yet his Incroachments were opposed and his Authority disputed upon all occasions especially as the light of Letters did begin to shine Insomuch as it was not only determined essentially in the Council of Constance one of the Imperial Cities of High germany that the Council was above the Pope and his Authority much curbed by the Pragmatick Sanction which thence took beginning But Gerson the learned Chancellor of Paris wrote a full Discourse entituled De auferibilitate Papae touching the total abrogating of the Papal Office which certainly he had never done in case the Papal Office had been found essential and of intrinsecal concernment to the Church of Christ According to the Position of that learned man The greatest Princes in these times did look upon the Pope and the Papal power as an Excrescence at the best in the body mystical subject and fit to be pared off as occasion served though on self ends Reasons of State and to serve their several turns by him as their needs required they did and do permit him to continue in his former greatness For Lewis the 11th King of France in a Council of his own Bishops held at Lions cited Pope Julius the 2d to appear before him and Laustrech Governour of Millaine under Francis the 1st conceived the Popes Authority to be so unnecessary yea even in Italy it self that taking a displeasure against Leo the 10th he outed him of all his jurisdiction within that Dukedom anno 1528. and so disposed of all Ecclesiastical affairs ut praefecto sacris Bigorrano Episcopo omnia sine Romani Pontificis authoritate administrarentur as Thuanus hath it that the Church there was supreamly governed by the Bishop of Bigor a Bishop of the Church of France without the intermedling of the Pope at all The like we find to have been done about six years after by Charles the Fifth Emperor and King of Spain who being no less displeased with Pope Clement the 7th Abolished the Papal power and jurisdiction out of all the Churches of his Kingdoms in Spain Which though it held but for a while till the breach was closed yet left he an example by it as my Author noteth Ecclesiasticam disciplinam citra Romani nominis autoritatem posse conservari that there was no necessity of a Pope at all And when K. Henry the 8th following these examples had banished the Popes Authority out of his Dominions Religion still remaining here as before it did the Popes Supremacy not being at the time an Article of the Churistian Faith as it hath since been made by Pope Pius the 4th that Act of his was much commended by most knowing men in that without more alteration in the face of the Church
Romanae sedis exuisset obsequium saith the Author of the Tridentine History he had freed himself and all his Subjects from so great a Vassalage Now as K. Henry the 8th was not the first Christian Prince who did de facto abrogate the Popes Authority so was he not the last that thought it might be abrogated if occasion were For to say nothing of King Edward the 6th and Queen Elizabeth two of his Successors who followed his example in it We find it to have been resolved on by K. Henry the 4th of France who questionless had made the Arch-Bishop of Bourges the Patriarch of the Gallicane Church and totally withdrawn it from acknowledging of the Authority of the See of Rome had not Pope Clement the 8th much against his will by the continual solicitations of Cardinal D' Ossat admitted him to a formal Reconciliation on his last falling off to Popery How near the Signeury of Venice was to have done the like anno 1608. the History of the Interdict or of the Quarrels betwixt that State and Pope Paul the 5th doth most plainly shew This makes it evident that in the judgment and esteem of most Christian Princes in other things of the Religion of the Church of Rome the Popes Supremacy was looked upon as an incroachment and therefore might be abrogated upon better reasons than it had formerly been admitted in their several Kingdoms By consequence the doing of it here in England is neither so injurious or unjust as your Zelots make it 2. That the Church of England might proceed to a Reformation without the Approbation of the Pope or Church of Rome But here you say it will be replied that though the Pope be not considered as the Supream Head or Universal Pastor of the Church with reference whereunto his supereminent jurisdiction was disputed in the former times yet it cannot be denied with reason but that he is the Patriarch of these Western Churches and the Apostle in particular of the English Nation In these respects no Reformation of the Church to be made without him especially considering that the Church of England at that time was a Member of the Church of Rome and therefore to act nothing in that kind but by consent of the whole according to that known Maxim of the Schools Turpis est pars ea quae totisuo non cohaereat This though it be a Triple Cord will be easily broken For first the Pope is not the Patriarch of the West One of the Patriarchs of the West we shall easily grant him but that he is the Patriarch we will by no means yield To tell you why we dare not yield it I must put you in mind of these particulars 1. That all Bishops in respect of their Office or Episcopality are of equal power whether they be of Rome or Rhegium of Constantinople or Engubium of Alexandria or of Tanais as S. Hierom hath it Potentia divitiarum paupertatis humilitas vel sublimiorem vel inferiorem Episcopum non facit A plentiful Revenue and a sorry Competency makes not saith he one bishop higher than another in regard of his Office though possibly of more esteem and reputation in the eyes of men 2. That in respect to Polity and external order the Bishops antiently were disposed of into Sub et supra according to the platform of the Roman Empire agreeable to the good old Rule which we find mentioned though not made in the general Councel of Chalcedon that is to say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The government of the Church is to be sitted and accommodated to the Civil State 3. That the Roman Empire was divided antiently into 14 Juridical Circuits which they called Diocesses reckoning the Praefecture of rome for one of the number six the of which that is to say the Diocesses of Italy Africk Spain Britain Gaul and Illyricum occidentale besides the Praefecture of the City were under the command of the Western Emperors after the Empire was divided into East and West 4. That in the Praefecture of the City of Rome were contained no more than the Provinces of Latium Tuscia Picenum Suburbicarium Samnum Apulia and Calabria Brutium and Lucania in the main land of Italy together with the Islands of Sicilie Corsica and Sardinia 5. That every Province having several Cities there was agreeable to this model a Bishop placed in every City a Metropolitan in the chief City of each Province who had a superintendence over all the Bishops and in each Diocess a Primate ruling in chief over the Metropolitans of the several Provinces And 6. Though at first only the three Primates or Arch-Bishops of Rome Antioch and Alexandria commonly and in vulgar speech had the name of Patriarchs by reason of the wealth and greatness of those Cities the greatest of the Roman Empire and the chief of Europe Asia and Africa to which the Bishops of Hierusalem and Constantinople were after added yet were they all of equal power among themselves and shined with as full a splendor in their proper Orbs as any of the Popes then did in the Sphere of Rome receiving all their light from the Sun of Righteousness not borrowing it from one another for which the so much celebrated Canon of the Nicene Council may be proof sufficient If not the Edicts of Justinian shall come in to help by which it was decreed that all Appeals in point of grievance should lie from the Bishop to the Metropolitan and from the Metropolitans unto the Primates the Patriarchs as he calls them of the several Diocesses By which accompt it doth appear that the Patriarchate of Rome was antiently confined within the Praefecture of that City in which respect as the Provinces subject to the Pope were by Ruffinus called Regiones Suburbicariae or the City Provinces so was the Pope himself called Vrbicus or the City-Bishop by Optatus Afer To prove this point more plainly by particular instances I shall take leave to travel over the Western Diocesses to see what marks of Independence we can find among them such as dissenting in opinion from the Church of Rome or adhering unto different ceremonies and forms of worship or otherwise standing in defence of their own Authority And first the Diocess of Italy though under the Popes nose as we use to say was under the command of the Arch-Bishop of Milain as the Primate of it which City is therefore called by Athanafius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Metropolis or chief City of Italy The Saturdays fast observed at Rome and not at Milain Quando Romae sum jejuno Sabbato quum hic sum non jejuno Sabbato as S. Ambrose hath it shews clearly that the one had no dependence upon the other And yet the difference of Divine Offices or Forms of worship is a more pregnant proof than this the Churches of Milain officiating for many Ages by a Liturgie which S. Ambrose had a special hand in they of the Patriarchate of Rome following the
old Roman Missals not fully finished and compleated till the time of Pope Gregory Whence the distinction of Ecclesiae Ambrosianae Ecclesiae Gregorianae extant in Bonaventure and others of the Writers of the latter times Cross we the Seas unto the Diocess of Africk governed in chief by the Primate or Arch-Bishop of Carthage And there we find S. Cyprian determining against Pope Stephen in the then controverted case of Rebaptization and calling him in his Epistle to Pompeius an obstinate and presumptuous man and a fautor of Hereticks no very great tokens of subjection if you mark it well The error of his judgement in the point debated I regard not here but I am sure that in defence of his authority and jurisdiction he was right enough and therein strongly seconded by the African Church opposing the incroachments of Zosimus Boniface and Celestine succeeding one another in the Roman Patriarchate prohibiting all Appeals to Rome in the Councils of Milevis and Carthage and finally excommunicating Lupicinus for appealing to Pope Leo the first contrary to the Rites and Liberties of the African Church Next for the Diocess of Spain I look upon the Musarabick Liturgy composed by Isidore Arch-Bishop of Sevil and universally received in all the Churches of that Continent for as unquestionable a character of self-subsistency as the Ambrosian Office was in the Church of Milain the Roman or Gregorian Missal not being used in all this Countrey till the year 1083. At which time one Bernard a French-man and a great stickler in behalf of the Roman Ceremonies being made Arch-Bishop of Toledo by practising with Alfonso the then King of Castile first introduced the Roman Missal into some of the Churches of that City and after by degrees into all the rest of those Kingdoms soon after the Churches of France the greatest and most noble part of the Gallick Diocess they were originally under the Authority of the Bishop of Lions as their proper Primate not owing any suit or service to the Court of Rome but standing on their own Basis and acting all things of themselves as the others did The freedom wherewith Irenaeus the renowned Bishop of that City reproved the rashness of Pope Victor in the Case of Easter not well becoming an inferior Bishop to the Supream Pastor shews plainly that they stood on even ground and had no advantage of each other in respect of sub supra as Logicians say notwithstanding that more powerful Principality potentior principalitas as the Latine hath it which Irenaeus did allow him over those at home But a more evident proofof this there can hardly be than those large liberties and freedoms which the Church Gallican doth at this time enjoy the remainders past all doubt of those antient Rights which under their own Patriarch they were first possessed of not suffering the Decrees of the Council of Trent that great supporter of the Popedom to take place amongst them but as insensibly and by the practices of some Bishops they were introduced curbing the Popes exorbitant power by the pragmatick Sanction and by the frequent Judgments and Arrests of Parliament insomuch as a Book of Cardinal Bellarmines tending to the advancement of the Papal Monarchy and another Writ by Beanus the Jesuite entituled Controversia Anglicana in maintenance of the Popes Supremacy were suppressed and censured Anno 1612. Another Writ by Gasper Scioppius to the same effect but with far less modesty being at the same time burnt by the hands of the Hangman Finally for the Churches of the Diocess of Britain those of Illyricum lying too far off to be brought in here they had their own Primate also the Arch-Bishop of York and under him two Metropolitans the Bishops of London and Caer-leon And for a character of their Freedom or self-subsistence they had four different customs from the Church of Rome as in the Tonsure and the keeping of the Feast of Easter wherein they followed the Tradition of the Eastern Churches So firm withal in their obedience to their own Primate the Arch Bishop of Car-leon on Vsh the only Arch-Bishop of three which before they had that they would by no means yield subjection unto Augustine the Monk the first Arch-Bishop of the English though he came Armed amongst them with the Popes Authority Nor would they afterwards submit unto his Successors though backed by the Authority of the Kings of England acknowledging no other Primate but the Bishop of St. Davids to which the Metropolitan See was then translated until the time of Henry II. when the greatest part of South Wales and the City of S. Davids it self was in possession of the English These were the Patriarchs or Primates of the Western Churches and by these Primates the Church was either governed singly but withal Supreamly in their several Diocesses taking the word Diocese in the former notion or in conjunction each with other by their Letters of advice and intercourse which they called Literas Formatas and Communicatorias You see by this that though the Pope was one of the Western Patriarchs yet was he not originally and by primitive Institution either the Patriarch of the West that is to say not the only one nor could pretend unto their Rights as any of their Sees were ruined by the barbarous Nations and consequently his consent not necessary to a Reformation beyond the bounds of his own Patriarchate under that pretence Let us next see what power he can lay claim unto as the Apostle in particular of the English Nation Which memorable title I shall never grudge him I know well not only that the Wife of Ethelbert King of Kent a Christian and a Daughter of France had both her Chappel and her Chappellance in the Palace Royal before the first preaching of Austin the Monk but that the Britains living intermixt with the Saxons for so long a time may be supposed in probability and reason to have gained some of them to the Faith But let the Pope enjoy this honour let Gregory the Great be the Apostle of the English Saxons by whom that Augustine was sent hither yet this entituleth his Successors to no higher Prerogatives than the Lords own Apostles did think fit to claim in Countreys which they had converted For neither were the English Saxons Baptized in the name of the Pope they had been then Gregoriani and not Christiani or looked upon him as the Lord of this part of Gods Heritage but as an helper to their joy S. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles did disclaim the one S. Peter the Apostle of the Jews did dissuade the other The Anglican Church was absolute and Independent from the first beginning not tied so much as to the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome it being left by Gregory to the discretion of Augustine out of the Rites and Rubricks of such Churches as he met with in his journey hither these of Italy and France he means to constitute a form of worship for the Church
in ill condition every part unsound but the disease lay chiefly in the Head it self grown monstrously too great for the rest of the Members And should the whole Body pine and languish without hope of ease because the Head I mean still the pretended Head would not be purged of some superfluous and noxious humours occasioning giddiness in the brain dimness in the eye deafness in the ear and in a word a general and sad distemper unto all the Members The Pope was grown to an exorbitant height both of pride and power the Court of Rome wallowing as in a course of prosperous fortunes in all voluptuousness and sensuality Nothing so feared amongst them as a Reformation whereby they knew that an abatement must be made of their pomp and pleasure Of these corruptions and abuses as of many others complaint had formerly been made by Armachanus Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln S. Bernard Nic. de Clemangis and other Conscientious men in their several Countreys not a few errors noted and informed against by Wickliffe John of Hus c. But they complained to a deaf Adder who was resolved not to hear the voice of those Charmers charmed they never so wisely The Church mean-while was in a very ill condition when he that should prescribe the cure was become the sickness Considering therefore that a Reformation could not be obtained by the Popes consent there was no remedy but that it must be made without it The Molten Calf modelled by the Egyptian Apis and the Altar patterned from Damasus had made the Israelites in all probability as great Idolaters as their Neighbours if the High Briests that set them up might have had their wills Nor had it been much better with the Church of Christ if Arianism could not have been suppressed in particular Churches because Liberius Pope of Rome supposing him to be the Head of the Church in general had subscribed unto it and that no error and corruption could have been reformed which any of the Popes whose Graves I am very loth to open had been guilty of but by their permission The Church now were in worse estate under Christian Princes than when it suffered under the power and tyranny of the Heathen Emperors if it were not lawful for particular Churches to provide for their own safety and salvation without resorting to the Pope who cannot every day be spoke with and may when spoken with be pressed with so many inconveniencies nearer hand as not to be at leisure to attend such businesses as lie further off And therefore it was well said by Danet the French Ambassador when he communicated to the Pope his Masters purpose of Reforming the Gallican Church by a National Council If said he Paris were on Fire would you not count the Citizens either Fools or Mad-men if they should send so far as Tiber for some Water to quench it the River of Seine running through the City and the Marne so near it 3. That the Church of England might lawfully proceed to a Reformation without the help of a General Council or calling in the aid of the Protestant Churches But here you say it is objected that if a Reformation were so necessary as we seem to make it and that the Pope was never like to yield unto it as the case then stood it ought to have been done by a General Council according to the usage of the Primitive times I know indeed that General Councils such as are commonly so called are of excellent use and that the name thereof is sacred and of high esteem But yet I prize them not so highly as Pope Gregory did who ranked the four first General Councils with the four Evangelists Nor am I of opinion that they are so necessary to a Reformation either in point of Faith or corruption of manners but that the business of the Church may be done without them Nay might I be so bold as to lay my naked thoughts before you as I think I may you would there find it to be some part of my Belief that there never was and never can be such a thing as a General Council truly and properly so called that is to say such a General Council to which all the Bishops of the Church admitting none but such to the power of voting have been or can be called together by themselves or their Proxies These which are commonly so called as those of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedon were only of the Prelates of the Roman Empire Christian Churches existing at that time in Ethiopia and the Kingdom of Persia which made up no small part of the Church of Christ were neither present at them nor invited to them And yet not all the Prelates neither of the Roman Empire nor some from every Province of it did attend that service those Councils only being the Assemblies of some Eastern Bishops such as could most conveniently be drawn together few of the Western Churches none at all in some having or list or leisure for so long a journey For in the so much celebrated Council of Nice there were but nine Bishops sent from France but two from Africk one alone from Spain none from the Diocess of Britain and out of Italy which lay nearest to it none but two Priests appeared at all and those as Legats from the Pope not Authorised to represent the Italian Churches so that of 318. Bishops which were there Assembled there were but twelve in all besides the Legats of the Pope for the Western Churches too great a disproportion to entitle it to the name of General And yet this was more General than the rest that followed there being no Bishops of the West at all in the second and third but the Popes themselves and in the fourth none but the Legats of the Pope to supply his place So that these Councils were called General not that they were so in themselves but that there was a greater concourse to them from the neighbouring Provinces than was or had been to some others on the like occasions Which if it be enough to constitute a General Council I see no reason but the Council of Antioch might be called so too summoned in the case of Paulus Samosetanus the Patriarch at that time of that famous City For the condemning of whose Heresie there convened not the Bishops of that Province only but the Patriarch of Hierusalem the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine Bozra in Arabia Tarsus in Cilicia Caesarea in Cappadocia of Iconium in Lycaonia of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus besides many others from all places of the same rank and quality but of lesser same Not to say any thing of Dionysius Patriarch of Alexandria invited but not present in regard of sickness which defect he recompenced by his Letters of advice and intercourse or of Dionysius Pope of Rome so hampered by the Puritan or Novatian faction that he could not come So that if the present of two of the four Patriarchs and the inviting of the
others with the Bishops of so many distant Nations as were there assembled suffice to make a General Council the Council of Antioch might as well have the name of General as almost any of the rest which are so entituled But laying by these thoughts as too strong of the Paradox and looking on a General Council in the common notion for an Assembly of the Prelates of the East and West to which the four Patriarchs are invited and from which no Bishop is excluded that comes commissionated and instructed to attend the service I cannot think them of such consequence to the Church of God but that it may proceed without them to a Reformation For certainly that saying of S. Augustine in his 4th Book against the two Epistles of the Pelagians cap. 12. is exceeding true Paucas fuisse haereses ad quas superandas necessarium fuerit Concilium plenarium occidentis orientis that very few Heresies have been crushed in such General Councils And so far we may say with the Learned Cardinal that for seven Heresies suppressed in seven General Councils though by his leave the seventh did not so much suppress as advance an Heresie an hundred have been quashed in National and Provincial Synods whether confirmed or not confirmed by the Popes Authority we regard not here Some instances hereof in the Synods of Aquileia Carthage Gaugra Milevis we have seen before and might add many others now did we think it necessary The Church had been in ill condition if it had been otherwise especially under the power of Heathen Emperors when such a confluence of the Prelates from all parts of the world would have been construed a Conspiracy against the State and drawn destruction on the Church and the Persons both Or granting that they might assemble without any such danger yet being great bodies moving slowly and not without long time and many difficulties and disputes to be rightly constituted The Church would suffer more under such delay by the spreading of Heresie than receive benefit by their care to suppress the same Had the same course been taken at Alexandria for suppressing Arius as was before at Antioch for condemning Paulus we never had heard news of the Council of Nice the calling and assembling whereof took up so long time that Arianism was diffused over all the world before the Fathers met together and could not be suppressed though it were condemned in many Ages following after The plague of Heresie and leprosie of sin would quickly over-run the whole face of the Church if capable of no other cure than a General Council The case of Arius and the universal spreading of his Heresie compared with the quick rooting out of so many others makes this clear enough To go a little further yet we will suppose a General Council to be the best and safest Physick that the Church can take on all occasions of Epidemical distemper but then we must suppose it at such times and in such cases only when it may conveniently be had For where it is not to be had or not had conveniently it will either prove to be no Physick or not worth the taking But so it was that at the time of the Reformation a General Council could not conveniently be Assembled and more than so it was impossible that any such Council should Assemble I mean a General Council rightly called and constituted according to the Rules laid down by our Controversors For first they say it must be called by such as have power to do it 2. That it must be intimated to all Christian Churches that so no Church nor people may plead ignorance of it 3. The Pope and the four chief Patriarchs must be present at it either in person or by Proxie And lastly that no Bishop is to be excluded if he be known to be a Bishop and not excommunicated According to which Rules it was impossible I say that any General Council should be assembled at the time of the Reformation of the Church of England It was not then as when the greatest part of the Christian world was under the command of the Roman Emperors whose Edict for a General Council might speedily be posted over all the Provinces The Messengers who should now be sent on such an errand unto the Countreys of the Turk the Persian the Tartarian and the great Mogul in which are many Christian Churches and more perhaps than in all the rest of the world besides would find but sorry entertainment Nor was it then as when the four chief Patriarchs together with their Metropolitans and Suffragan Bishops were under the protection of the Christian Emperors and might without danger to themselves or unto their Churches obey the intimation and attend the service those Patriarchs with their Metropolitans and Suffragans both then and now languishing under the tyranny and power of the Turk to whom so general a confluence of Christian Bishops must needs give matter of suspicion of just fears and jealousies and therefore not to be permitted as far as he can possibly hinder it on good Reason of State For who knows better than themselves how long and dangerous a War was raised against their Predecessors by the Western Christians for recovery of the Holy Land on a resolution taken up at the Council of Clermont and that making War against the Turks is still esteemed a cause sufficient for a General Council And then besides it would be known by whom this General Council was to be assembled If by the Pope as generally the Papists say he and his Court were looked on as the greatest grievance of the Christian Church and 't was not probable that he would call a Council against himself unless he might have leave to pack it to govern it by his own Legats fill it with Titular Bishops of his own creating and send the Holy-Ghost to them in a Cloakbag as he did to Trent If joyntly by all Christian Princes which is the common Tenet of the Protestant Schools what hopes could any man conceive as the time then were that they should lay aside their particular interesses to center all together upon one design Or if they had agreed about it what power had they to call the Prelates of the East to attend the business or to protect them for so doing at their going home So that I look upon the hopes of a General Council I mean a General Council rightly called and constituted as an empty Dream The most that was to be expected was but a meeting of some Bishops of the West of Europe and those but of one party only such as were Excommunicated and that might be as many as the Pope should please being to be excluded by the Cardinals Rule Which how it may be called an Oecumenical or General Council unless it be a Topical-Oecumenical a Particular-general as great an absurdity in Grammar as a Roman Catholick I can hardly see Which being so and so no question but it was either
Elders as Josephus telleth us Antiqu. Jud. 1. cap. was no less pleasing unto God nor less valid in the eyes of all his Subjects than those of Jehosaphat and Hezekiah in their riper years and perhaps acting singly on the strength of their own judgments only without any advice Now that there should be Liturgies for the use of the Church that those Liturgies should be celebrated in a Language understood by the people That in those Liturgies there should be some prescribed Forms for giving the Communion in both kinds for Baptizing Infants for the reverent celebration of Marriage performing the last office to the sick and the decent burial of the Dead as also for set Feasts and appointed Festivals hath been a thing of primitive and general practice in the Christian Church And being such though intermitted or corrupted as before is said the King advising with his Bishops and other Church-men though not in a Synodical way may cause the same to be revised and revived and having fitted them to edification and increase of piety either commend them to the Church by his sole authority or else impose them on the people under certain penalties by his power in Parliament Saepe Coeleste Regnum per Terrenum proficit The Kingdom of Heaven said Reverend Isidore of Sevil doth many times receive increase from these earthly Kingdoms in nothing more than by the regulating and well ordering of Gods publick worship We saw before what David did in this particular allotting to the Priest the Courses of their Ministration appointing Hymns and Songs for the Jewish Festivals ordaining Singing-men to sing and finally prescribing Vestments for the Celebration Which what else was it but a Regulating of the Worship of God the putting it into a solemn course and order to be observed from time to time in succeeding Ages Sufficient ground for Christian Princes to proceed on in the like occasions especially when all they do is rathe the reviving of the Ancient Forms than the Introduction of a new Which as the King did here in England by his own Authority the Body of the Clergy not consulted in it so possibly there might be good reason why those who had the conduct of the Kings affairs thought it not safe to put the managing of the business to a Convocation The ignorance and superstition of the common people was at that time exceeding profitable to the Clergy who by their frequent Masses for the quick and dead raised as great advantage as Demetrius and the Silver-Smith by Dianas shrines It hapned also in a time when many of the inferiour Clergy had not much more learning than what was taught them in the Massals and other Rituals and well might fear that if the Service were once extant in the English tongue the Laity would prove in time as great Clerks as themselves So that as well in point of Reputation as in point of Profit besides the love which many of them had to their former Mumpsimus it was most probable that such an hard piece of Reformation would not easily down had it been put into the power of a Convocation especially under a Prince in Nonage and a state unsettled And yet it was not so carried without them neither but that the Bishops generally did concur to the Confirmation of the Book or the approbation of it rather when it passed in Parliament the Bishops in that time and after till the last vast and most improvident increase of the Lay-nobility making the most considerable if not the greatest part of the House of Peers and so the Book not likely to be there allowed of without their consent And I the rather am inclined unto that Opinion because I find that none but Tunstal Gardiner and Bonner were displaced from their Bishopricks for not submitting in this case to the Kings appointments which seems to me a very strong and convincing argument that none but they dissented or refused conformity Add here that though the whole body of the Clergy in their Convocation were nto consulted with at first for the Reasons formerly recited yet when they found the benefit and comfort which redounded by it to good Christian people and had by little and little weaned themselves from their private interesses they all confirmed it on the Post-fact passing an Article in the Convocation of the year 1552. with this Head or Title viz. Agendum esse in Ecclesiae linguae quae fit Populo nota which is the 25th Article in King Edwards Book Lay all that hath been said together and the result of all will be briefly this that being the setting out of the Liturgy in the English Tongue was a matter practical agreeable to the Word of God and the Primitive times that the King with so many of his Bishops and others of the Clergy as he pleased to call to Counsel in it resolved upon the doing of it that the Bishops generally confirmed it when it came before them and that the whole body of the Clergy in their Convocation the Book being then under a review did avow and justifie it The result of all I say is this that as the work it self I say was good so it was done not in a Regal but a Regular way Kings were not Kings if regulating the external parts of Gods publick worship according to the Platforms of the Primitive times should not be allowed them But yet the Kings of England had a further right as to this particular which is a power conferred upon them by the Clergy whether by way of Recognition or Concession I regard not here by which they did invest the King with a Supream Authority not only of confirming their Synodical Acts not to be put in execution without his consent but in effect to devolve on him all that power which formerly they enjoyed in their own capacity And to this we have a parallel Case in the Roman Empire in which there had been once a time when the Supream Majesty of the State was vested in the Senate and people of Rome till by the Law which they called Lex Regia they transferred all their Power on Caesar and the following Emperors Which Law being passed the Edicts of the Prince or Emperor were as strong and binding as the Senatus Consulta and the Plebiseita had been before Whence came that memorable Maxim in Justinians Institutes that is to say Quod Principi placuerit legis habet vigorem The like may be affirmed of the Church of England immediately before and in the Reign of K. Henry VIII The Clergy of this Realm had a Self-authority in all matters which concerned Religion and by their Canons and Determinations did bind all the Subjects of what rank soever till by acknowledging that King for their Supream Head and by the Act of Submission not long after following they transferred that power upon the King and on his Successors By doing whereof they did not only disable themselves upon concluding any thing in their Convocations
or putting their results into execution without his consent but put him into the actual possession of that Authority which properly belonged to the Supremacy or the Supream Head in as full manner as ever the Pope of Rome or any delegated by and under him did before enjoy it After which time whatsoever the King or his Successors did in the Reformation as it had virtually the power of the Convocations so was it as effectual and good in Law as if the Clergy in their Convocation particularly and in terminis had agreed upon it Not that the King or his Successors were hereby enabled to exercise the Keys and determine Heresies much less to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments as the Papists falsly gave it out but as the Heads of the Ecclesiastical Body of this Realm to see that all the members of that Body did perform their duties to rectifie what was found amiss amongst them to preserve peace between them on emergent differences to reform such errors and corruptions as are expresly contrary to the Word of God and finally to give strength and motions to their Councils and Determinations tending to Edification and increase of Piety And though in most of their proceedings towards Reformation the Kings advised with such Bishops as they had about them or could assemble without any great trouble or inconvenience to advise withal yet was there no necessity that all or the greater part of the Bishops should be drawn together for that purpose no more than it was anciently in the Primitive Times for the godly Emperors to call together the most part of the Bishops in the Roman Empire for the establishing of the matters which concerned the Church or for the godly Kings of Judah to call together the greatest part of the Priests and Levites before they acted any thing in the Reformation of those corruptions and abuses which were crept in amongst them Which being so and then withal considering as we ought to do that there was nothing altered here in the state of Religion till either the whole Clergy in their Convocaton or the Bishops and most eminent Church-men had resolved upon it our Religion is no more to be called a Regal than a Parliament-Gospel 6. That the Clergy lost not any of their just Rights by the Act of Submission and the power of calling and confirming Councils did anciently belong to the Christian Princes If you conceive that by ascribing to the King the Supream Authority taking him for their Supream Head and by the Act of Submission which ensued upon it the Clergy did unwittingly ensnare themselves and drew a Vassallage on these of the times succeeding inconsistent with their native Rights and contrary to the usage of the Primitive Church I hope it will be no hard matter to remove that scruple It 's true the Clergy in their Convocation can do nothing now but as their doings are confirmed by the Kings Authority and I conceive it stands with reason as well as point of State that it should be so For since the two Houses of Parliament though called by the Kings Writ can conclude nothing which may bind either King or Subject in their civil Rights until it be made good by the Royal Assent so neither is it fit nor safe that the Clergy should be able by their Constitutions and Synodical Acts to conclude both Prince and People in spiritual matters until the stamp of Royal Authority be imprinted on them The Kings concurrence in this case devesteth not the Clergy of any lawful power which they ought to have but restrains them only in the exercise of some part thereof to make it more agreeable to Monarchical Government and to accommodate it to the benefit both of Prince and People It 's true the Clergy of this Realm can neither meet in Convocation nor conclude any thing therein nor put in execution any thing which they have concluded but as they are enabled by the Kings Authority But then it is as true withal that this is neither inconsistent with their native Rights nor contrary unto the usage of the Primitive Times And first it is not inconsistent with their native Rights it being a peculiar happiness of the Church of England to be always under the protection of Christian Kings by whose encouragement and example the Gospel was received in all parts of this Kingdom And if you look into Sir Henry Spelman's Collection of the Saxon Councils I believe that you will hardly find any Ecclesiastical Canons for the Government of the Church of England which were not either originally promulgated or after approved and allowed o either by the Supream Monarch of all the Saxons or by some King or other of the several Heptarchies directing in their National or Provincial Synods And they enjoyed this Prerogative without any dispute after the Norman Conquest also till by degrees the Pope in grossed it to himself as before was shewn and then conferred it upon such as were to exercise the same under his Authority which plainly manifests that the Act of Submission so much spoke of was but a changing of their dependance from the Pope to the King from an usurped to a lawful power from one to whom they had made themselves a kind of voluntary Slaves to him who justly challenged a natural dominion over them And secondly that that submission of theirs to their natural Prince is not to be considered as a new Concession but as the Recognition only of a former power In the next place I do not find it to be contrary to the usage of the Primitive times I grant indeed that when the Church was under the command of the Heathen Emperors the Clergy did Assemble in their National and Provincial Synods of their own Authority which Councils being summoned by the Metropolitans and subscribed by the Clergy were of sufficient power to bind all good Christians who lived within the Verge of their jurisdiction They could not else Assemble upon any exigence of affairs but by such Authority But it was otherwise when the Church came under the protection of Christian Princes all Emperors and Kings from Constantine the Great till the Pope carried all before him in the darker times accompting it one of the principal flowers as indeed it was which adorned their Diadems I am not willing to beat on a common place But if you please to look into the Acts of ancient Councils you will find that all the General Councils all which deserve to be so called if any of them do deserve it to have been summoned and confirmed by the Christian Emperors that the Council of Arles was called and confirmed by the Emperor Constantine that of Sardis by Constans that of Lampsacus by Valentinian that of Aquileia by Theodosius that of Thessalonica National or Provincial all by the Emperor Gratian That when the Western Empire fell into the hands of the French the Councils of Akon Mentz Meldun Wormes and Colen received both life and
motion from Charles the Great and his Successors in that Empire it being evident in the Records of the Gallican Church that the opening and confirming of all their Councils not only under the Caroline but under the Merovignean Family was always by the power and sometimes with the Presidence of their Kings and Princes as you may find in the Collections of Lindebrogius and Sirmondus the Jesuite and finally that in Spain it self though now so much obnoxious to the Papal power the two at Bracara and the ten first holden at Toledo were summoned by the Writ and Mandate of the Kings thereof Or if you be not willing to take this pains I shall put you to a shorter and an easier search referring you for your better information in this particular to the learned Sermon Preached by Bishop Andrews at Hampton Court Anno 1606. touching the Right and power of calling Assemblies or the right use of the Trumpets A Sermon Preached purposely at that time and place for giving satisfaction in that point to Melvin and some leading men of the Scotish Puritans who of late times had arrogated to themselves an unlimited power of calling and constituing their Assemblies without the Kings consent and against his will As for the Vessallage which the Clergy are supposed to have drawn upon themselves by this Submission I see no fear or danger of it as long as the two Houses of Parliament are in like condition and that the Kings of England are so tender of their own Prerogative as not to suffer any one Body of the Subjects to give a Law unto the other without his consent That which is most insisted on for the proof hereof is the delegating of this power by King Henry VIII to Sir Thomas Cromwel afterwards Earl of Essex and Lord high Chamberlain by the name of his Vicar General in Ecclesiastical matters who by that name presided in the Convocation Anno 1536. and acted other things of like nature in the years next following And this especially his presiding in the Convocation is looked on both by Sanders and some Protestant Doctors not only as a great debasing of the English Clergy men very Learned for those times but as deforme satis Spectaculum a kind of Monstrosity in nature But certainly those men forget though I do not think my self bound to justifie all King Harries actions that in the Council of Chalcedon the Emperor appointed certain Noble-men to sit as Judges whose names occurr in the first Action of that Council The like we find exemplified in the Ephesine Council in which by the appointment of Theodosius and Valentinian then Roman Emperors Candidianus a Count Imperial sate as Judge or President who in the managing of that trust over-acted any thing that Cromwel did or is objected to have been done by him as the Kings Commissioner For that he was to have the first place in those publick meetings as the Kings Commissioner or his Vicar-General which you will for I will neither trouble my self nor you with disputing Titles the very Scottish Presbyters the mo st rigid sticklers for their own pretended and but pretended Rights which the world affords do not stick to yield No Vassallage of the Clergy to be found in this as little to be feared by their Submission to the King as their Supream Governour Thus Sir according to my promise and your expectation have I collected my Remembrances and represented them unto you in as good a fashion as my other troublesome affairs and the distractions of the time would give me leave and therein made you see if my judgment fail not that neither our King or Parliaments have done more in matters which concern'd Religion and the Reformation of this Church than what hath formerly been done by the secular Powers in the best and happiest times of Christianity and consequently that the clamours of the Papists and Puritans both which have disturbed you are both false and groundless Which if it may be serviceable to your self or others whom the like doubts and prejudices have possessed or scrupled It is all I wish my studies and endeavours aiming at no other end than to do all the service I can possibly to the Church of God to whose Graces and divine Protection you are most heartily commended in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ By SIR Your most affectionate Friend to serve you Peter Heylyn OF LITURGIES OR SET FORMS OF PUBLIQUE WORSHIP With the Concomitants thereof IN Way of an Historical Narration By PETER HEYLYN D.D. Augustin de bono perseverantiae lib. 2. c. 22. Vtinam tardi corde infirmi c. sic audirent vel non audirent in hac quaestione Disputationes nostras ut potius intuerentur orationes suas quas semper habuit habebit Ecclesia ab exordiis suis donec finiatur hoc seculum LONDON Printed for Charles Harper and Mary Clark 1680. To the Reader WHen the disputes were first raised by those of the Genevian faction against the Divine Service of this Church it was pretended that they were well enough content to admit a Liturgy so it were such an one as tended more to edification and increase of Piety than that which was imposed and established by the Laws of this Land was given out to do That which most seemed to trouble them as they gave it out was that it had too much in it of the Roman Rituals that it was cloyed with many superstitious and offensive Ceremonies the frequent and unnecessary repetition of the Lords Prayer the ill translation of the Psalms and other Scriptures the intermixture of impertinent Responsories whereby the course of the Prayers was interrupted and finally the diffeence betwixt that Liturgie and those of other reformed Churches with which they did desire to hold a more strict Communion But being beaten from these holds as by many others so more chiefly by judicious Hooker and never daring to adventure any more in pursuit of that quarrel the Smectymnians in our times resolved upon a nearer course to effect their purposes than the Martinists had done before them and rather chose to fell down Liturgie it self as having no authority from the Word of God nor from the practice of Gods people than waste their time in lopping off the branches and excrescencies of it Accordingly they reduced the whole state of the Controversie to these two Positions 1. That if by Liturgy we understand an order observed in Church Assemblies of Praying Reading and Expounding the Scriptures Administring Sacraments c. Such a Liturgy they know and do acknowledge both Jews and Christians to have used But if by Liturgy we undersTand prescribed and stinted forms of Administration composed by some particular men in the Church and imposed upon all the rest then they are sure for so they must be understood if they say any thing that no such Liturgie hath been used ancient by the Jews or Christians 2. That the first Reformers of Religion did never intend the
bring greater trouble to the Clergy than is yet considered and far less profit to the Countrey than is now pretended which is the third and last of my Propositions and is I hope sufficiently and fully proved or at the least made probable if not demonstrative I have said nothing in this Tract of the right of Tithes or on what motive or considerations of preceding claim the Kings of England did confer them upon the Clergy Contenting my self at this time with the matter of fact as namely that they were setled on the Church by the Kings of this Realm before they granted out Estates to the Lords and Gentry and that the Land thus charged with the payment of Tithes they passed from one man to another Ante Concilium Lateranense bene toterant Laici decimas sibi in feudum retinere vel aliis quibuscunque Ecclesiis dare Lindw in Provinc cap. de decimis until it came unto the hands of the present Occupant which cuts off all that claim or title which the mispersuaded subject can pretend unto them I know it cannot be denied but that notwithstanding the said Grants and Charters of those ancient Kings many of the great men of the Realm and some also of the inferiour Gentry possessed of Manours before the Lateran Council did either keep their Tithes in their own hands or make Infeodations of them to Religious houses or give them to such Priests or Parishes as they best affected But after the decree of Pope Innocent the third which you may find at large in Sir Edw. Cokes Comment upon Magna Charta and other old Statutes of this Realm in the Chapter of Tithes had been confirmed in that Council Anno 1215 and incorporated into the Canons and conclusions of it the payment of them to the Minister or Parochial Priest came to be setled universally over all the Kingdom save that the Templars the Hospitalers and Monks of Cisteaux held their ancient priviledges of being excepted for those Lands which they held in Occupancy from this general rule Nor have I said any thing of Impropriations partly because I am persuaded that the Lords and Gentry who have their Votes or Friends in Parliament will look well enough to the saving of their own stakes but principally because coming from the same original grant from the King to the Subjects and by them setled upon Monasteries and Religious houses they fell in the ruine of those houses to the Crown again as of due right the Tithes should do if they be taken from the Clergy and by the Crown were alienated in due form of Law and came by many mean conveyances to the present Owners Onely I shall desire that the Lords and Commons would take a special care of the Churches Patrimony for fear lest that the prevalency of this evil humour which gapes so greedily after the Clergies Tithes do in the end devour theirs also And it concerns them also in relation to their right of Patronage which if this plot go on will be utterly lost and Churches will no longer be presentative at the choice of the Patron but either made Elective at the will of the People or else Collated by the Trustees of the several Counties succeeding as they do in the power of Bishops as now Committee-men dispose of the preferments of the Sequestred Clergy If either by their power and wisdom or by the Arguments and Reasons which are here produced the peoples eyes are opened to discern the truth and that they be deceived no longer by this popular errour it is all I aim at who have no other ends herein but only to undeceive them in this point of Tithes which hath been represented to them as a publick grievance conducing manifestly to the diminution of theââ gain and profit If notwithstanding all this care for their information they will run headlong in the ways of spoil and sacrilege and shut their eyes against the light of the truth shine it never so brightly let them take heed they fall not into that ââââtuation which the Scripture denounceth that seeing they shall see but shall not perceive and that the stealing of this Coal from the Altars of God burn not down their Houses And so I shut up this discourse with the words of our Saviour saying that no man tasteth new wine but presently he saith that the old is better ECCLESIA VINDICATA OR THE Church of England VINDICATED PART II. Containing the Defence thereof V. In retaining the Episcopal Government AND VI. The Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons Framed and Exhibited in an HISTORY of EPISCOPACY By PETER HEYLYN D. D. HEB. XIII 17. Obedite Praepositis vestris subjacete eis Ipsi enim pervigilant quasi rationem pro Animabus vestris reddituri ut cum gaudio hoc faciant non gementes CYPRIAN Epist LXV Apostolos id est EPISCOPOS Praepositos Dominus elegit Diaconos autem post Ascensum Domini in coelos Apostoli sibi constituerunt Episcopatus sui Ecclesiae Ministros LONDON Printed by M. Clark to be sold by C. Harper 1681. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Quarrels and Disputes about Episcopacy had reposed a while when they broke out more dangerously than in former times In order whereunto the people must be put in fear of some dark design to bring in Popery the Bishops generally defamed as the principal Agents the regular and establisht Clergy traduc'd as the subservient Instruments do drive on the Plot Their actings in Gods publick Worship charged for Innovations their persons made the Common subjects of reproach and calumny The News from Ipswich Bastwicks Let any and the Seditious Pamphlets from Friday-street with other the like products of those times what were they but Tentamenta Bellorum Civilium preparatory Velitations to that grand encounter in which they were resolved to assault the Calling The Calling could not be attempted with more hopes of Victory than when it had received such wide wounds through the sides of those persons who principally were concerned in the safety or defence thereof The way thus opened and the Scots entring with an Army to make good the pass the Smectymnuans come upon the Stage addressing their discourse in Answer to a Book called An Humble Remonstrance to the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled Anno 1640. amongst whom they were sure beforehand of a powerful party to advance the Cause which made them far more confident of their good suocess than otherwise they had reason to expect in a time less favourable And in this Confidence they quarrelled not the Rocket or the Officers Fees the Oath ex officio the Vote in Parliament or the exorbitant jurisdiction of the High-Commission at which old Martin and his followers clamoured in Queen Elizabeths time Non gaudet tenui sanguine tanta sitis Their stomach was too great to be satisfied with so small a sacrifice as the excrescences and adjuncts of Episcopacy which seemed most offensive to their Predecessors
They are all now for Root and Branch for the very Calling that having grubbed up those goodly Cedars of the Church the Bishops they might plant a stinking Elder as a noble person well observed in the place thereof Never was Learning so employed to cry down the encouragements and rewards of Learning The Branches needs must wither when the Root decays and what could else befall Cathedras as we see it too evidently but the inevitable exposing of them to a present ruin by making them Oblations unto Spoil and Rapine And now or never was the time for those that had a care of the Churches safety to put themselves into a posture of defence and be provided for the Battel In which if few appeared at the first on the Churches side it was not that they durst not give the onset but that they were reserved for succours For whilst the Humbly reverend Remonstrant was pleased to vindicate as well his own as the Churches honour there was small cause or rather none that other men should interpose themselves at all or rob him of the glory of a sole encounter Parque novum fortuna videt concurrere Bellum atque virum as in a case not much unlike was observed by Lucan But when that Reverend pen grew wearied not with the strength or number of his Adversaries but their importunity who were resolved to have the last words as himself observeth and that he hath been pleased to give way to others to shew their duty and affection in so just a cause it was then no hard matter to persuade me to such further courses as might be thought on and pursued for the Churches peace And I the rather was resolved to do somewhat in it because the Smectymnuans in a manner had ingaged me in the undertaking It seems they have forgotten what their own Darling HEILTN c. Smectym pag. 16 17. by giving me the Title of the Bishops Darling a Title which though given in scorn had been ill bestowed should I be wanting unto those of that Sacred Order which were supposed to let me hold so principal a place in their affections Doubly ingaged by duty and this provocation which I could not take but for a challenge I took their Book into my hand in which I found the whole dispute as it relates to the Episcopal Government reduced to these Propositions viz. 1. That the Impropriation of name and Imparity of place between Bishops and Presbyters was not of divine right and Apostolical institution but of humane invention and occasionally only and that a Diabolical occasion also and no more than so 2. That the eminent Superiority and Power of Ordination and Jurisdiction which our Bishops claim was both unknown to the Scripture and the Primitive times 3. That antiently in some places of the World the Episcopal Government was never known for many years together the people in those places being instructed in the faith without help of Bishops Hereupon they infer in the close of all That Bishops or Episcopacy being at the best a meer humane Ordinance may by the same Authority be abrogated by which it was first established This last I must confess delivered in the way of Quere but so delivered as to carry a Position in it more pertinent to their aim and purpose than the other three In prosecuting of which points as they have shewed the greatest of their wit and cunning to give the fairest colours to a rotten Cause so have they brought no new Objections against the Episcopal Order and Jurisdiction but what are either answered or prevented in the Learned works of B. Bilson B. Downham and other Worthies of this Church now in bliss with God Nihil dictum quod non dictum fuit prius had been an Answer new enough for an old Objection But seeing that these Men though they could bring no new supply of Arguments is make good their Cause would not rest satisfied with those old Answers which had been given in former times to their Predecessors I was resolved to deal with them in another way than what hath formerly been travelled Not in the way of Argumentation or a Polemical discourse there being no likelihood of any end in such Disputations as long as men had so much Sophistry as either to evade the Argument or find some sleight to weaken and shift off the Answer I rather chose having found good success in that kind before to manage the whole Controversie as it lay between us in the way of an Historical Narration as in point of fact which I conceive to be the readiest means to convince gainsayers and silence the dispute for the times to come For if History be Testis temporum the surest and most faithful witness of mens actions in the carriage of all publick businesses as no doubt it is it cannot but be also Magistra vitae both which the Orator affirms of it the best Instructress we can have in all Affairs of like nature as they come before us The History of Episcopacy collected from the Writings of the Antient Fathers cannot but be of special use and efficacy in setting forth the Government of the Church in the purest times especially when those Fathers are produced on no other occasion but either as writing on those Texts of Scripture in which the Institution and Authority of Bishops is most clearly evidenced or speaking of the condition of the Church in their several times in the Administration and Government whereof they had most of them some especial interess Out of whose testimonies so digested and compared together I doubt not but it will appear most evidently to an indifferent and impartial Reader first That our Lord and Saviour JESVS CHRIST laid the foundation of his Church in an imparity of Ministers and that according unto his example the Apostles did the like ordaining the three several Orders and Degrees of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the holy Ministry Next that the Government of Bishops being founded thus was propagated over all the World with the faith it self there being no Nation which received the one without the other And finally that in matter of Authority and Jurisdiction the Bishops of the primitive and purest Ages had full as much as ours of England in these latter times And if I have done this as I hope I have it may more rationally be inferred though perhaps not so safely as the times now are that Bishops or Episcopacy being of Divine and Apostolical institution no humane invention cannot with piety be abrogated by a less Authority than that by which it was ordained at the first appointment This is the sum and this is the end of my design In prosecution of the which I had drawn down my story to the times of Constantine by whose power and favour the Church began to settle in all parts of the Empire where it had formerly been persecuted with all kind of Extremities which either the wit of Tyranny could invent or an
and Rulers of the Church and that the Apostles after his ascension did ordain the Deacons to be the Ministers of their Episcopal function and the necessities of the Church Saint Ambrose doth affirm the same Ambros in 1. ad Cor. c. 12. Caput it aque in Ecclesia Apostolos posuit c. Christ saith he made the Apostles the head or supreme Governours of his Church they being the Legats or Ambassadours of Christ according unto that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.20 And then he adds Ipsi sunt Episcopi that they were Bishops More plainly in his Comment on the Ephesians Apostoli Episcopi sunt Prophetae explanatores Scripturarum The Apostles saith he In Comment in Ephes 4. are Bishops and Prophets the Expositors of Scripture But because question hath been made whether indeed those Commentaries are the works of Ambrose or of some other ancient Writer he tells us in his Notes on the 43. Psalm that in those words of Christ Pasce oves meas Peter was made a Bishop by our Lord and Saviour De Repub. Eccles l. 2. c. 2. n. 4. Significat Ambrosius Petrum Sacerdotem hoc est Episcopum electum illis verbis Pasce oves meas as the place is cited by the Arch-Bishop of Spalato And thus Saint Chrysostom speaking of the election of the Seven saith plainly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that then there were no Bishops in the Church Chrys hom 14. in Act 6. but only the Apostles But what need more be said in the present business than that which is delivered in the holy Scripture about the surrogation of some other in the place of Judas wherein the place or function of an Apostle is plainly called Episcopatus Acts 1.20 Episcopatum ejus accipiat alter let another take his Bishoprick as the English reads it His Bishoprick i. e. saith Chrysostom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Principality his Priesthood Chrys hom 3. in Act. 1. the place of government that belonged unto him had he kept his station A Text most plain and pregnant as the Fathers thought to prove that the Episcopal dignity was vested in the persons of the Lords Apostles The Comment under the name of Ambrose which before we spake of having said Ipsi sunt Episcopi Ambros in 1. ad Cor. c. 12 that the Apostles were Bishops adds for the proof thereof these words of Peter Episcopatum ejus accipiat alter And the true Ambrose saying of Judas Id. Serm. 50. that he was a Bishop Episcopus enim Judas fuit adds for the proof thereof the same very Text. Finally to conclude this matter Saint Cyprian shewing that Ordinations were not made without the privity of the people in the Jewish Church Nisi sub populi assistentis conscientia lib. 1. ep 4. adds that the same was afterwards observed by the holy Apostles Quando de ordinando in locum Judae Episcopo when Peter spake unto the people about the ordering of a Bishop in the place of Judas But for a further proof of this that the Apostles were ordained Bishops by our Lord and Saviour we shall see more hereafter in convenient place Vide chap. 6. n. 12. when we are come to shew that in the government of the Church the Bishops were the proper Successors of the Apostles and so esteemed to be by those who otherwise were no great friends unto Episcopacy In the mean time we may take notice of that impudent assertion of Jobannes de Turrecremata viz. Quod solus Petrus à Christo Episcopus est ordinatus Lib. 2. Summae de Eccl. c. 32. ap Bell. de Rom Pont. that Peter only Peter was made Bishop by our Saviour Christ and that the rest of the Apostles received from Peter their Episcopal consecration wherein I find him seconded by Dominicus Jacobatius lib. 10. de Concil Art 7. A Paradox so monstrous and absurd that howsoever Bellarmine doth reckon it amongst other the Prerogatives of that Apostle in his first Book de Romano Pontifice cap. 23. yet upon better thoughts he rejects it utterly in his 4th Book upon that argument Cap. 22. and so I leave it Thus having shewn in what estate the Church was founded by our Saviour and in what terms he left it unto his Apostles we must next see what course was taken by them to promote the same what use they made of that authority which was trusted to them CHAP. II. The foundation of the Church of Hierusalem under the Government of Saint James the Apostle and Simeon one of the Disciples the two first Bishops of the same 1. Matthias chosen into the place of Judas 2. The coming of the Holy Ghost and on whom it fell 3. The greatest measure of the Spirit fell on the Apostles and so by consequence the greatest power 4. The several Ministrations in the Church then given and that in ranking of the same the Bishops are intended in the name of Pastors 5. The sudden growth of the Church of Hierusalem and the making of Saint James the first Bishop there 6. The former point deduced from Scripture 7. And proved by the general consent of Fathers 8. Of the Episcopal Chair or Throne of Saint James and his Successors in Hierusalem 9. Simeon elected by the Apostles to succeed S. James 10. The meaning of the word Episcopus and from whence borrowed by the Church 11. The institution of the Presbyters 12. What interest they had in the common business of the Church whilst S. James was Bishop 13. The Council of Hierusalem and what the Presbyters had to do therein 14. The Institution of the Seven and to what Office they were called 15. The names of Ecclesiastical functions promiscuously used in holy Scripture OUR Saviour Christ having thus Authorized his Apostles to Preach the Gospel over all the World to every Creature and given them power as well of ministring the Sacraments as of retaining and remitting sins as before is said thought fit to leave them to themselves Luk. 24.49 only commanding them to tarry in the City of Hierusalem until they were indued with further power from on high whereby they might be fitted for so great a work Act. 1.9 And when he had spoken those things while they beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight No sooner was he gone to the Heavenly glories but the Apostles with the rest withdrew themselves unto Hierusalem as he had appointed where the first care they took was to fill up their number to surrogate some one or other of the Disciples in the place of Judas that so the Word of God might be fulfilled Psal 69.26 which he had spoken by the Psalmist Episcopatum ejus accipiat alter A business of no small importance and therefore fit to be imparted unto all the Brethren not so much that their suffrage and consent herein was necessary as that they might together joyn in prayer to Almighty God Act. 1.21
putting the question how James was made the Bishop of Hierusalem since Pasce oves meas was said to Peter returns this answer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Christ made Peter not the Pastor of a particular place but of all the universe That James received his Bishoprick from Peter not one word saith Chrysostom 'T is true the Latin reads it as the Cardinal doth but such an undertaker as he was should have sought the fountains As for Saint Austin Cap. 37. he agrees herein with the other Fathers in his second book against Cresconius where speaking of the Church of Hierusalem he describes it thus quam primus Apostolus Jacobus Episcopatu suo rexit whereof S. James the Apostle was the first Bishop Add here the joynt consent and suffrage of 289 Prelates in the sixth General Council of Constantinople Concil Constant in Can. 32. affirming James the Lords Brother to be the first Bishop of Hierusalem not to say any thing of Oecumenius and Theophylact whom before we cited Never was point in issue tried by a fuller evidence And yet one other circumstance occurs to confirm the point which is that till Eusebius time Eccl. hist l. 7. c. 14. the Chair or Cathedra Episcopalis wherein S. James was said to be inthroned was very carefully preserved by his Successors as a sacred Monument and gladly shewed to all that desired to see it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Author hath it An evidence of no mean consideration as being vouched by an Author that lived before the superstitious reverence and esteem of Reliques had been introduced into the world or any Impostures of that kind put upon the people Unto which testimony of Eusebius Beda Martyrol Decemb. 28. we may add that of Beda also who in his Martyrologie doth place the memorial or commemoration of the Apostles inthronizing in that Chair or Throne upon the 27 of December wherein I dare not joyn with him as unto the day though I approve his observation of the fact or ceremony as being every way conform to the ancient custom of the Church One only thing I have to add and rectifie Hieron de Script Eccles which concerns S. James and is briefly thus S. Hierome tells us out of Egesippus huic soli licitum esse ingredi Sancta Sanctorum that it was only lawful to S. James to enter into the Holy of Holies whereas in truth it should not be huic soli licitum but huic solitum And this appears to be the true and ancient reading by comparing the translation of Sophronius with S. Hieroms Text wherein we have it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. that it was his custom so to do the Jews permitting him to enjoy that priviledge in the declining times of their State and Temple by reason of the holiness of his conversation Id. ibid. Finally to conclude with Hierom this blessed Man of God was Martyr'd in the 7 year of Nero An. Chr. 63. postquam triginta annos Hierosolymis rexerat Ecclesiam after he had been Bishop of Hierusalem 30 year that is to say 29 years compleat and the 30 currant By which account it must needs follow that the making of this James Bishop of Hierusalem was one of the first actions of the Apostles after they were endued with the Holy Ghost James being dead Simeon another of the Lords Disciples was made the Bishop of that Church Peter and Paul and John and many other of the Apostles being then alive and all concurring in this choice and consenting to it Eusebius Euseb hist Eccl. l. 3. c. 10. as he tells the story makes it a very solemn business scarce such another Precedent to be found in all antiquity And he relates it thus as followeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. After the Martyrdom of James and the taking of Hierusalem by the Romans it is affirmed that the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord and Saviour which were yet alive together with those of the Lords kindred after the flesh many of whom continued living till that time resorted thither Their business was to enter into consultation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whom they should find most worthy to succeed in the place of James and having well considered of it they all with one accord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith the Author agreed on Simeon the Son of Cleophas one of our Saviours kindred also as fit and worthy to possess the Episcopal Throne ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. Ibid. and look unto the government of that Church or Diocess So that in this election there did not only meet together the Lords kindred who might perhaps desire to keep that holy honour in their own family not the Disciples only of the lower rank who might perhaps be easily induced to consent thereto to gratifie the kindred of their Lord and Master But there met also the Apostles men guided and directed by the Spirit of God and all of these coming from several parts and countries did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with one accord with one unanimous assent agree upon the choice of this worthy man to be the Bishop or chief Pastor of the mother City which place he held until the time of Trajan during whose Empire he received the Crown of Martyrdom Anno 109. Here then we have two Bishops of Hierusalem made by the general and joynt consent of the Apostles and those two Bishops not in name and title but in power and office according to the Ecclesiastical notion of the word and as the same is taken in the writings of the Fathers before alledged I know the word Episcopus in the primitive and proper notion doth signifie a Supervisor or Overseer as it is rendred in our last Translation Act. 20.4 Suidas in Episcopo Such were the Officers of the Athenians whom Suidas speaks of sent by that State to look into the Government of the Cities under their dominion ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And these saith he were called Bishops and Guardians In this last sense the word is often used by Plutarch Plutarch in Numa as where he calleth Numa ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Bishop or Guardian of the Vestal Virgins and their God Terminus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Overseer and preserver of peace and amity Thus do we read in Sophocles of certain Officers called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such as took care about the dead of others in the civil Laws qui pani LL. Munerum caeteris rebus venalibus praesunt which had the oversight of the markets and those called Episcopi And thus doth Tully tell us of himself Cicero ad Atticum l. 7. Vult me Pompeius episcopum esse c. that Pompey had made him the Overseer or the Guardian of Campania and the whole Sea-coast This being the meaning of the word in its native sense it pleased the Holy Ghost to make choice thereof to signifie the Pastor or Superiour Minister to whom
the care of all the Church should appertain that so the seeds of schism might be rooted up And from the time when Paul ordained those Presbyters in Lystra and Iconium and those other Churches which was in Anno 48. according as Baronius calculates it unto Saint Paul's return unto Hierusalem which was in Anno 58. are but ten whole years Before which time immediately upon his resolution to undertake that journey and from thence to Rome he had appointed Bishops in the Churches of his own plantation so that the government of the Presbyters in the largest and most liberal allowance that can be given them will be too short a time to plead prescription Now that Saint Paul ordained Bishops in many of the Asian Cities or in the Churches of those Cities which himself had planted before his last going thence into Greece and Macedon may well be gathered out of Irenaeus who lived both neer those times and in those parts and possibly might have seen and known some of the Bishops of this first foundation Item l. 3. c. 14. Now Irenaeus his words are these In Mileto enim convocatis Episcopis Presbyteris qui erant ab Epheso reliquis proximis civitatibus c. Paul saith he calling together in Miletum the Bishops and Presbyters which were of Ephesus and other the adjoyning Cities told them what things were like to happen to him in Hierusalem whither he meant to go before the Feast Out of which words of Irenaeus I collect thus much First that those Presbyters whom Paul called to Miletum to meet him there were not all of Ephesus though all called from Ephesus Ephesus being first appointed for the Randevouz or place of meeting and secondly that amongst those Presbyters there were some whom Paul had dignified with the stile and place of Bishops In which regard the Assembly being of a mixt condition they are entituled by both names especially those Presbyters which had as yet no Bishops over them having the charge and jurisdiction of their Churches under the Apostles as before was said And this perhaps may be one reason why the Apostle in his speech to that Assembly makes no words of Timothy who being present with the rest received his charge together with them as also why he gave the Presbyters of Ephesus no particular charge how to behave themselves before their Bishop there being many Bishops there which were not under the command of Timothy However we may gather thus much out of Irenaeus that though we find not in the Scripture the particular names of such as had Episcopal Authority committed to them but Timothy and Titus yet that there were some other Bishops at that time of S. Paul's Ordination who doubtless took as great a care for Thessalonica and Philippos for Lystra and Iconium as for Crete and Ephesus And that these two were by Saint Paul made Bishops of those places will appear most fully by the concurrent testimony of ancient Writers And first for Timothy that he was Bishop of the Church of Ephesus and the first Bishop there appeareth by an ancient Treatise of his death and martyrdom bearing the name of Polycrates who was himself not only Bishop of this Church of Ephesus but born also within six or seven and thirty years after the writing of the Revelation by Saint John Which treatise of Polycrates entituled De martyrio Timothei is extant amongst the lives of Saints printed at Lovaine An. 1585. and cited by the Learned Primate of Armagh in his brief Discourse touching the original of Episcopacy Sigebertus de Eccl. Script Certain I am that Sigebertus doth report Polycrates to be the Author of a Book entituled De passione Sancti Timothei Apostoli but whether that it ever came unto the hands of those of Lovain I am not able to determine More like it is the book is perished and the fragments of the Treatise which remain in Photius Photius in Biblioth n. 254. touching the death and martyrdom of Timothy is all which have escaped that shipwrack And yet in those poor fragments there is proof enough that Timothy was Bishop of the Church of Ephesus in which it is expresly said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Timothy was both Ordained and Inthroned Bishop of the Metropolis of Ephesus by the great Apostle Secondly this appeareth by the testimony of Eusebius who reckning up Saint Pauls assistants his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and coadjutors as it were bringeth in Timothy for one and this adds thus of him Eccles hist l. 3. c. 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that as Histories recorded of him he was the first Bishop of the Diocess of Ephesus Thirdly by Epiphanius Epiph. har 75. n. 5. who in a glance gives him the power and stile of Bishop where he relateth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Apostle speaking unto Timothy being then a Bishop doth advise him thus Rebuke not an Elder c. Fourthly by Ambrose if the work be his Ambr. Praef. in Epist 1. ad Timoth. who in the preface to his Commentaries on the Epistles unto Timothy thus resolves the point Hunc ergo jam creatum Episcopum instruit per Epistolam that being now ordained a Bishop he was instructed by Saint Pauls Epistle how to dispose and order the Church of God Fifthly by Hierom who in his Tract De Eccles Scriptoribus doth affirm of Timothy Hieron de Script Eccles Ephesiorum Episcopum ordinatum à Beato Paulo that he was ordained Bishop of the Ephesians by Saint Paul Sixthly by Chrysostom as in many places so most significantly and expresly in his Comment on the Epistle to the Philippians saying Chrysost Hom. in 1. ad Tim. in Praef. ad eand Paul saith in his Epistle unto Timothy Fulfil thy Ministry ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being then a Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for that he was a Bishop appears by Pauls writing thus unto him Lay hands hastily on no man Seventhly by Leontius Bishop of Magnesia Concil Chal. Act. 11. one of the Fathers in the great Council of Chalcedon affirming publickly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that from blessed Timothy unto his times there had been 26 Bishops of the Church of Ephesus Eighthly by Gregory the Great De cura Pastorali pars 2. c. 11. where he saith that Paul admonisheth his Scholar Timothy Praelatum gregi being now made the Prelate of a Flock to attend to reading Com. in 1. ad Tim. c. 1. Ninthly by Sedulius an ancient writer of the Scotish Nation who lived about the middle of the first Century affirming on the credit of old History Timotheum istum fuisse Episcopum in Epheso that Timothy to whom Paul wrote had been Bishop of Ephesus Primas in Tim. 1. Ep. 1. c. 4. Tenthly by Primasius a writer of the first 600 years who in the Preface to his Commentaries on the first to Timothy gives us this short note Timotheus Episcopus fuit Discipulus Pauli that
assumed into the Clergy But not to make a further search into particulars which are vast and infinite we have two notable cases that reflect this way and in them two such general Maxims as will make all sure In the third Council of Carthage holden in or about the year 390. it was proposed by Aurelius then Metropolitan of Carthage Concil Carthag 3. Ca. 45. that it might be lawful for him to chuse or take Presbyters out of the Churches of his Suffragans and to ordain them Bishops of such Cities as were unprovided and that the Bishops of those Churches whose Clerks or Presbyters they were might not be suffered to oppose To which when all the Fathers had agreed Posthumianus one of the Prelates there assembled puts this case that if a Bishop had but one Presbyter only Numquid debet illi ipse unus Presbyter auferri whether that one Presbyter should be taken from him Aurelius thereunto replyeth Episcopum unum esse posse per quem dignatione divina Presbyteri multi constitui possunt that a Bishop by Gods grace might make many Presbyters and therefore that on such occasions his one and only Presbyter must be yielded up upon demand By which it is most clear and evident that a Bishop may alone perform the Act or Ceremony of Ordination not having any Presbyter at all to join with him in it The like occurreth in the second Council of Sevil held in the year 617 or thereabouts concerning Erangitanus a Presbyter of the Church of Corduba who by the Bishop of that See Concil Hispalens 2. c. 5. Cap. 6. a ruffling Prelate as appeareth by the following Chapter had been deposed from his Ministry the cause being brought before the Council and the whole process openly declared unto them the man was presently restored to his Orders and the sentence passed against him declared to be irrregular and contrary to the ancient Canons whereby it was enacted that no Clergy-man should be deposed without the judgment of a Synod And then it followeth Episcopus sacerdotibus ministris solus dare honorem potest auferre solus non potest that Bishops solely of themselves may confer holy Orders on Priests and Deacons but solely of their own authority they could not depose them So then it is most clear and evident that Bishops might and did ordain without their Presbyters might not the Presbyters do the like sometimes without their Bishop Certainly nothing less than so or if they did attempt it at any time the whole act was not only censured and condemned as uncanonical but adjudged void and null from the first beginning For besides that which hath been said before from Hierom Chrysostom and Epiphanius touching the limitation of this power to the Bishops only there are three Book-cases in the point which put the matter out of question Coluthus once a Presbyter of Alexandria Athanas in Apol 2. Edit Gr. Lat. p. 784. falling at difference with his Bishop usurps upon the Bishops Office and ordains certain Presbyters himself being one This business being canvassed in the Council of Alexandria before that famous Confessor Hosius and other Bishops there assembled Coluthus was commanded to carry himself for a Presbyter only as indeed he was and all the Presbyters of his ordaining reduced to the same condition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in which they were before the said Ordination Where by the way instead of Coluthus the last edition of this Author in Greek and Latin doth read Catholicus Lutet 1627. which must be mended as before in the relation of this story P. 732.792 where we have Coluthus and not Catholicus But to proceed It hapned afterwards that Ischyras one of the Pseudo-Presbyters ordained by Coluthus Id. ibid. p. 757. accused Macarius one of the Presbyters of Athanasius for a pretended violence to be offered to him Id. ibid. p. 732. then ministring at the holy Table So that the business being brought at last unto the judgment of a Council and the point in issue being this whether this Ischyras were a Presbyter or not and so by consequence a dispenser of those sacred Mysteries he was returned no Presbyter by the full consent of all the Prelates then assembled The reason was because he was ordained by Coluthus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who died a Presbyter and that his Ordinations had been all made void and those that had received them at his hands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã became lay again and in that state received the blessed Sacrament as the Lay-men did And this saith Athanasius was a thing so publique ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that no man ever doubted of the truth thereof The second case was that of Maximus once a familiar friend of Gregory Nazianzens at such time as he was Bishop of Constantinople and by him Greg. Presb. in vita Nazian having taken a good liking to him admitted into the Clergy of that Church But Maximus being an ungrateful wretch complots with others like himself to be made Bishop of that City and thereupon negotiates with Peter then Patriarch of Alexandria to ordain him Bishop of the same which being done accordingly for Maximus was by birth of Egypt and possibly might have good friends there besides his money and the whole City in a great distemper about the business the whole cause came at last to be debated in the first general Council of Constantinople Conc. Const 1. cap. 4. where on full hearing of the matter it was thus Decreed viz. that Maximus neither was to be taken for a Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor any of those he had ordained to be accounted of the Clergy or remain in any order or degree thereof Where note that howsoever Maximus came unlawfully unto the bishoprick of Constantinople by means whereof all the Acts done by him as a Bishop were made void and frustrate yet if as Presbyter to which degree he had been lawfully ordained by Nazianzen he might have given the imposition of hands the Presbyters by him ordained would have held good still But the third case comes nearest to the business yet as it is thus reported in the Council of Sevil before remembred A Bishop of the Church of Spain Concil Hisp 11. cap. 5. being troubled with sore eyes and having some presented to him to be ordained Presbyters and Deacons did only lay his hands upon them suffering a Presbyter that stood by to read the words of Ordination This coming to be scanned in the aforesaid Council upon mature deliberation it is thus determined First for the Presbyter which assisted that for his boldness and presumption he had been subject to the Councils censure but that he was before deceased next for the Presbyter and Deacons who were so ordained that they should actually be deposed from all sacred Orders Concluding thus Tales enim merito judicati sunt removendi quia prave inventi sunt constituti that they were worthily adjudged to lose those Orders
particular the case of the Reformed Churches may not unfitly be resembled unto that of Scipio as it is thus related in the story Valer. Maxim l. 3. c. 7. Upon some want of money for the furtherance of the necessary affairs of State he demanded a supply from the common Treasury But when the Quaestor pretending that it was against the Laws refused to open it himself a private person seised upon the Keys Et patefacto aerario legem necessitati cedere coegit and made the Law give way to the necessities of the Commonwealth So in like manner the better to reform Religion many good men made suit to be supplyed out of the common Treasuries of the Church to be admitted to the Ministery according to the common course of Ordination Which when it was denyed them by the Bishops the Churches Quaestors in this case they rather chose to seise upon the Keys and receive Ordination from the hands of private persons than that the Church should be unfurnished This I conceive to be the Case at the first beginning But whether with the change of their condition the case be altered or whether they continue in the state they were I am not able to say any thing It is a good old saying and to that I keep me ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that where I am a stranger I must be no medler Hitherto of the power of Ordination committed by Saint Paul to his two Bishops of Ephesus and Crete and in them to all other Bishops whatsoever We must next look upon the power of Jurisdiction and that consists in these particulars First in the ordering of Gods Service and the Administration of his Sacraments Secondly in the preaching of his Word censuring those that broach strange Doctrines and on the other side encouraging and rewarding such as are laborious in their Calling and lastly in correction of the manners of such as walk unworthy of the Gospel of Christ whether of the Clergy or the Laity To these three Heads we may reduce the several points and branches of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so far forth as the same hath been committed by the Word of God and by the practice of the Church unto the managing and care of Bishops First for the ordering of Gods Service and all things thereunto pertaining Saint Paul gave Timothy this Direction that first of all 1 Tim. 2.1 Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and all that be in authority that men may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty This as it was a common Duty and appertaining unto every man in his several place so the Apostle leaves it unto Timothy to see that men performed this Duty and were not suffered to neglect it For that the Prayers here intended were not the private Prayers of particular persons but the publique of the Congregation is agreed on all sides Calvin conceives it so for the Protestant Writers Paulus simpliciter jubet quoties orationes publicae habentur Calvin in 1. ad Tim. c. 2. that Paul doth here appoint what he would have to be comprized in our publique Prayers Estius for the Pontificians doth resolve so also Estius in 1 ad Tim. c. 2. that the place must be understood de publicis Ecclesiae precibus of the publique Prayers of and in the Congregation And that the Western Churches may not stand alone Theophylact and Oecumenius do expound the words Theophyl Occum in locum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the daily Service used in the Church of God who also call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the first Christian Duty Now ask of Chrysostom Chrysost in 1 ad Tim. c. 2. to whom it doth belong to see this Duty carefully discharged as it ought to be and he will tell you 't is the Priest or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as he which is the common Father of the Universe and therefore to take care of all as doth the Lord whose Priest or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he is And ask of Oecumenius Oecum Ibid. than whom none better understood that Fathers Writings whom he doth there mean by the Priest or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and he will tell you that it is the Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It doth saith he belong unto the Bishop as the common Father to make Prayers for all men faithful and infidels friends and enemies persecuters and slanderers Lyra speaks home and fully to this purpose also For this he makes to be secundus actus ad Episcopum pertinens the second Act belonging to the Bishops Office that Prayers be offered unto God The Ministration of the Sacraments being a principal part of Gods publique service and comprehending Prayers and Supplications and giving of thanks must be looked on next And this we find to be committed principally to the Bishops care and by their hands to such inferiour Ministers in the Church of God as they thought fit to trust with so great a charge Mat. 28.19 Luk. 22.19 To teach and to Baptize was given in the charge to the Apostles and unto none but they did Christ say hoc facite that they should take the bread and break and bless it and so deliver it to the Communicants So also in the blessing and distributing of the other element This power they left in general to their Successors to the Bishops chiefly and such as were found worthy of so high a trust Ep. ad Smyrnens by their permission Ignatius who lived nearest to our Saviours time and had been conversant with the Apostles doth expresly say it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It is not lawful without the Bishop either to Baptize or make Oblations or celebrate the Eucharist or finally to keep the Love-feasts or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which were then in use for those I take it were the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the Father speaks of Tertul. de Baptismo c. 17. Tertullian for the second Century doth affirm as much The right saith he of giving Baptism belongs to the chief Priest that is the Bishop next to the Presbyters or Deacons non tamen sine authoritate Episcopi yet not without the Bishops Licence or Authority Concil Laodic Can. 57. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the third Century the Councel held in Laodicea is as plain and full save that indeed it is more general in which the Presbyter is tyed from doing any thing i. e. such things as appertain to his ministration ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without the knowledge of his Bishop Hieron adv Luciferian Saint Hierom finally no great advancer of the Episcopal authority and jurisdiction having considered of it better doth conclude at last that if the Bishop had not a preheminence in the Church of God there would be presently almost as many Schisms as Priests And hence it is saith he Vt sine Episcopi missione neque Presbyter
far more express Episcopos vocat stellas c. Paraeus in Apocal cap. 1. v. 20. The Bishops are called Stars saith he because they ought to out-shine others aswell in purity of Doctrine as sincerity of Conversation in the Church of God eosdem Angelos vocat quia sunt Legati Dei ad Ecclesiam and they are also called Angels because they are the Legats or Embassadours of God to his holy Church And lest we should mistake our selves and him in the word Episcopus he laboureth to find out the Bishop of each several Church as we shall see hereafter in that inquisition for those who speak to the particular Beza Annot. Apoc. c. 2.1 we begin with Beza who on those words unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus gives this Annotation Angelo i. e. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quem nimirum oportuit imprimis de his rebus admoneri c. To the Angel that is saith he to the chief President whom it behoved to have the notice of the charge there given and by him to the rest of his Colleagues and the whole Congregation but fearing lest this Exposition might give some advantage for the upholding of the Hierarchie which he so laboured to pull down he adds de proprio that notwithstanding this acknowledgment Episcopal authority being a thing of mans invention hinc statui nec potest nec debet nor may nor ought to have any ground from hence Finally Marlorat himself on those very words Marlorat Eccl. Expâsit in Apocal c. 2. v. 1. shews that however there were many things in the Church of Ephesus which required Reformation both in the Clergy and the people Non tamen populum aggreditur sed Clerum yet the Apostle doth not apply himself unto the people but the Clergy Nor doth he fashion his discourse to the Clergy generally Sed ad Principem Cleri Episcopum utique but to the chief or principal of the Clergy which was the Bishop Nay Marlorat goes further yet and he as he layeth down his interpretation so he doth also give a reason of it and such a one as may well satisfie any man of reason Idem Ibid. His reason is Nam Pastor non modo pro propriis c. Because the Pastor is not only to render an account to the supream Judg for his own sins alone but for the sins of all his flock if any of them by his sloth or negligence do chance to perish And certainly this reason is of special use and efficacy to the point in hand For if the Lord do look for an account at the Pastors hand for every sheep that shall be lost by his sloth or negligence it must needs follow thereupon that those of whom so strict a reckoning is expected must not have power only to persuade and counsel but also to correct and censure and by their own proper and innate authority to rectifie such things as are amiss in their several charges The Son of God is neither so unjust as that the Pastor should be charged with those enormities which he hath no authority to amend or rectifie nor so forgetful as to threaten and rebuke the Pastor not only for the peoples faults but the Errata of the Presbyters in case he were not trusted with a greater power than any of the rest for that end and purpose Which being so and that our Saviour by Saint John doth send out his summons neither unto the Church in general nor to the Presbyters in common but to the Angel of each Church in the singular number it is most plain and evident as I conceive that in the time of writing the Apocalypse as long time before it the Church of Christ had certain Pastors of more eminent note when they as we intituled Bishops which governed as well the Presbyters as the rest of the Flock and those the Son of God acknowledgeth for stars and Angels And howsoever the inferiour Pastors both are and may be called Angels in a general sense as Messengers and Ministers of God Almighty yet if it be the Angel in the singular number the Angel in the way of eminence and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it is peculiar only to the Bishop Now that each Church of those remembred in that Book had his proper Angel and that they were not governed by a Corporation or Colledg of Presbyters to whom those several Epistles might be sent by the name of Angels the word Angel being to be taken collectively and not individually as some men suppose is in the next place to be shewed And first for proof Smectymn p. 52. there is a pregnant evidence in a Discourse or Treatise touching the Martyrdom of Timothy the Author of the which relates that after Saint John the Apostle was revoked from his exile by the sentence of Nerva Apud Phot. in Biblioth n. 254. he betook himself to the Metropolis of Ephesus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and being assisted with the presence of the seven Bishops he took upon himself the government of the Metropolis of the Ephesians and there continued preaching the Doctrine of salvation till the time of Trajan Which as it is an evident and convincing proof that the seven Churches had their several Bishops to each Church one Bishop so is it no such difficult matter to find out most of them by name and what Church each of them did govern And first for Ephesus Paraeum in Apocal cap. 2. some have conceived that Timothy was still alive and Bishop at that time when the Apocalypse was written which hotly is defended by Alcasar against Ribera Lyra and Pererius who opine the contrary But surely Timothy it could not be as doth appear in part by that which was alledged out of the Treatise of his Martyrdom which if it were not written by Polycrates is yet very antient and authentick wherein he is conceived to be dead before but principally by the quality and condition of that blessed Evangelist so plentifully endued with the Holy Ghost so eminent in piety and all heavenly graces that no man can conceive him lyable to the accusation with which the Angel of that Church is charged And therefore it must either be that John when on the death of Timothy as I conceive Saint John ordained Bishop of this Church as is reported in the Constitutions Constitut Apost l. 7. c. 48. ascribed to Clemens or else Onesimus another of the Successors of Timothy in the See of Ephesus who is intituled Bishop of it in the Epistle of Ignatius written to that Church within twelve years after the writing of the Revelation In which Epistle Ignatius blessing God for so good a Bishop Igna. in Epist ad Ephes admonisheth the people of their duty ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in submitting themselves unto his judgment or concurring with it as their whole Presbytery did which harmony of the Bishop and his Presbyters he doth compare ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unto the concord of the
and shewing what perfections were in them required then adds Quos Successores relinquebant sunm ipsorum locum magisterii tradentes whom they did leave to be their Successors delivering unto them their own place of government Cypr. Epist 42. vel l. 2. ep 10. S. Cyprian next writing to Cornelius then Bishop of Rome exhorts him to endeavour to preserve that unity Per Apostolos nobis Successoribus traditam which was commended by the Apostles unto them their Successors So in another place speaking of the commission which our Saviour gave to his Apostles he adds that it was also given to those Praepositi Id. Epist 69. vel l 4. ep 10. rulers and governours of the Church Qui Apostolis Vicaria ordinatione succedunt which by their ordination have been substituted as Successors to them And lest we should mistake his meaning in the word Prupositi Firmilianut anothe âi shop of those times Firmil ep Cy. Epist 79. in an Epistle unto Cyprian useth instead thereof the word Episcopi not varying in the rest from those very words which Cyprian had used before Hieron ad Marcell adv Mont. Hierom although conceived by some to be an adversary of the Bishops doth affirm as much Where speaking of Montanus and his faction he shews this difference betwixt them and the Church of God viz. that they had cast the Bishop downwards made him to be the third in order Apud nos Apostolorum locum Episcopi tenent but in the Catholick-Church of Christ the Bishops held the place or room of the Apostles The like he saith in his Epistle to Euagrius Id. ad Euagr. where speaking of the parity of Bishops amongst themselves that the eminency of their Churches did make no difference in their authority he gives this reason of the same Omnes Apostolorum successores sunt because they were all Successors to the Apostles So also in his Comments on the Book of Psalms writing upon those words Id. in Psal 44. Instead of thy Fathers thou shalt have Children he tells us that at first the Apostles were the Fathers of the Church but they being gon Habes pro his Episcopos filios the Church had Bishops in their stead which though they were her Children as begotten by her Sunt tamen patres tui yet they were also Fathers to her in that she was directed and guided by them August in Psal 44. S. Austin on the same words hath the like conceit the Fathers of the Church saith he were the Lords Apostles Pro Apostolis filii nati sunt tibi constituti sunt Episcopi instead of those Fathers the Church hath Children Bishops that be ordained in her such whom she calleth Fathers though her self begat them constituit in Sedibus patrum and placed them in the seats or thrones of those holy Fathers August Epist 42. The like the same Saint Austin in another place to the same effect The root saith he of Christian Religion is by the seats of the Apostles Successiones Episcoporum and the succession of the Bishops dispersed and propagated over all the world Grego Magn. hom 26. And so S. Gregory discoursing of the power of binding and loosing committed by the Lord unto his Apostles applies it thus Horum nunc in Ecclesiâ locum Episcopi tenent that now the Bishops hold their places in the Church of Christ Not that the Bishops do succeed them in their personal graces their mighty power of working Miracles speaking with tongues giving the Holy Ghost and others such as these which were meerly temporary but in their Pastoral charge and government as the chief Rulers of the Church the ordinary Pastors of the Flock of Christ Now that the Bishops are the ordinary Pastors of the Church and so conceived to be by the ancient Fathers will be made evident by as good authority as the point before Ignatius Ignat. Epist ad Antioch who conversed with most of the Apostles writing unto the Antiochians requireth them to call to mind Euodius who was his Predecessor in the See of Antioch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Tertull. de fuga in persecut their most blessed Pastor Tertullian discoursing on those words of Christ The hireling seeth the Woolf coming and fleeth but that the good Shepherd layeth down his life for the Sheep Joh. 10. inferreth thereupon Praepositos Ecclesiae in persecutione fugere non oportere that the Prelates or Governours of the Church are not to fly in persecution By which it is most clear not to dispute the truth of his assertion that Pastor Praepositus Ecclesiae do come both to one Cypr. de Aleatore S. Cyprian in his tract de Aleatore is more plain and positive Nam ut constaret nos i. e. Episcopos Pastores esse ovium Spiritualium c. that it might evidently appear saith he that we the Bishops are the Pastors of the Flock of Christ He said to Peter feed my Sheep And in another place for fear the former Book may prove none of his expostulating with Pupianus Id. Epist 69. who charged him as it seemeth for some defect in his administration he thus drives the point Behold saith he for these six years Nec fraternitas babuerit Episcopum neither the Brother-hood hath had a Bishop nor the People a Praepositus or Ruler nor the Flock a Pastor nor the Church a Governour nor Christ a Prelate nor God a Priest Where plainly Pastor and Episcopus and so all the rest are made to be the same one function More clearly in another place of the same Epistle where he defineth a Church to be Plebs sacerdoti adunata Pastori suo grex adhaerens that is to say a People joyned or united rather to their Priest a Flock adhering to their Pastor Where by Sacerdos as before and in other Authors of the first times he meaneth no other than a Bishop as doth appear by that which followeth Vnde scire debes Episcopum in Ecclesia c. From whom thou oughtest to understand saith he the Bishop to be in the Church and the Church to be also in the Bishop and that whoever is not with the Bishop is not in the Church Optatus saith the same in brief Opta de schismate lib. 1. by whom Pastor sine grege Episcopus sine populo a Bishop without a Church or People and a Pastor without a Flock are joyned together as Synonyma S. Austin speaking of two sorts of Over-seers in the fold of Christ some of them being Children and the others hirelings then adds Praepositi autem qui filii sunt Pastores sunt Augâst Traââ 46. in Job the Rulers which are Children of the Church they are the Pastors And in another place not long since cited speaking of Episcopale judicium the condemnation that attends the Bishops sentence he presently subjoyns Pastoralis tamen necessitas Id de corrâpt grat c. 15. that yet the necessity
no small sin to reject those men who holily and without reproof have undergone the Office of Episcopacy or done the duty of a Bishop So far the Father hath proceeded as to the Vindication of Episcopacy or the Episcopal Function which you will from the attempts and practices of such Presbyters who went about to undermine it and raise contentions in the Church about it That which comes after doth relate to the other Faction the Faction raised against the Presbyters by some of the unruly people and that he doth pursue from pag. 58. beginning with Beati sunt Presbyteri c. following the same till pag. 70. where he persuades the Presbyters that were so distasted by several Examples both profane and sacred rather to quit the place for the Churches peace than by their tarrying there to increase the Rupture Now that by Bishops or Episcopi in the words before he meaneth Bishops truly and properly so called and doth not use the word in so large a sense as also to include the Presbyters as some men conceive Vindication of the Answ pa. 136 137. Clem. p. 53. doth seem most evident to me by these reasons following First from the Parallel here made between the several degrees and Offices in the Jewish Church and those established in the Christian which had been very imperfect and inconsequent if there had not been those several and distinct degrees of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the one as of the High Priests Priests and Levites in the other Church And that the Bishops in the Christian Church are called many times ' ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or High Priests in the ancient Writers is no new Learning unto those that have read the Fathers And unto this interpretation of the word Episcopi in that place of Clemens I am the more inclined to stand as to the true and proper meaning of the Father because I find the self-same Parallel produced by Hierom none of the greatest Patrons of Episcopacy Who tels us first that many of the Apostostolical Traditions did take their ground or hint from the old Testament and gives us next this instance of it or if you will this resolution in the case Quod Aaron filii ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri atque Diaconi vendicant in Ecclesia that such as Aaron and his Sons Hierom. ad Euagrium and the Tribe of Levi were in the Temple the same were Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the Church of GOD. Where plainly that preheminence which Aaron had over and above the Priests and Levites the same is given by Hierom to the Bishops over their Presbyters and Deacons respectively And this is that which is affirmed in the words of Clemens if we mark it well the Parallel being brought in both for the self-same end And this to me appears yet further to be clear and evident by the contentions raised by these Corinthian Presbyters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Clem. p. 57. about the Name or Dignity of Episcopacy the power and priviledges appertaining to that sacred Calling and the discourse thereon occasioned touching the limiting and restraining of these busie Presbyters unto their proper Rank and Station For had the heat been only raised upon the deposition of their godly Presbyters as by some is said that had not any way concerned either the Name or Dignity of Episcopacy Vindic. p. 137. taking Episcopacy in that sense as themselves would have it that quarrel not being taken up as they make the case against the Dignity or Calling but the persons only of those Presbyters whom they had deposed But I am most of all confirmed herein by the citation of that Text of the Prophet Esay though of a very different reading from those now in use Clem. p. 55. the application of it being so conform to that of other ancient Writers Saint Hierom following the Translation of the Septuagint Hierom. Comment in Esa 6.60 doth thus read the Text Dabo Principes tuos in pace Episcopos tuos in justitia observes that in the Hebrew it is written thus Ponam visitationem tuam pacem Praepositos tuos in justitiam And thence infers the admirable Majesty of holy Scripture quod principes futuros Ecclesiis Episcopos nominavit in that the future Governours or Princes of the Church are there before-hand called Bishops whose Visitation is in peace and the name or Appellation of their Office doth denote their justice Cyril Alexan. in Esai l. 5. c. 60. Saint Cyril also although he differ from our Author in the Translation of the Text following therein the Septuagint as Saint Hierom did yet he agreeth with him in his application For making a comparison between the Religion of the Jews and Christians likening the one to Gold and Silver the other unto Brass and Iron according to the tenor of the words foregoing he addeth that the Jewish Ministers the Scribes and Pharisees whom before he spake of being once removed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Christ the Redeemer of all people did raise up other Governours and Bishops for them such as did every way excel in Peace and Righteousness Id. in Esaiam Tom. 5. c. 60. And then he makes this use thereof for our instruction That since the Princes or Rulers of the Church do excel in Peace and the Bishops of the same in Righteousness it ought so far to work upon the people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as that they should endeavour to lead their lives in Christian Piety and Godliness Here then we have two of the learnedst of the Ancients writing upon the Text alledged by Clemens and both expounding it of Bishops truly and properly so called according to the nature of that word in the times they lived and therefore questionless Clemens must needs be understood of such Bishops also And herewith you shall have the reason why Bishops and Deacons are here joyned together and that there is no mention made of Presbyters not that the Presbyters were not ordained by the Apostles aswell as either of the other but because the Deacons in this common broyl did constantly adhere unto their Bishop when as so many of the Presbyters were in opposition Epiphan adv haeres 75. or else as Epiphanius tells us because that Bishops at the first had more use of Deacons than they had of Presbyters for where the Congregation was but small Basil de Sp. san c. 29. as that of Gregory Thaumaturgus is said to be consisting of no more than 17 persons a Bishop only was sufficient ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but being a Bishop could not be or at the least not do his Office without help of Deacons that Bishops and Deacons are remembred only And yet perhaps the meaning of the Author may be best conceived certain I am the doubt or difficulty would be best removed did we translate ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the English Minister as in that place
I think we may according to the general meaning of that word in its native sense the Presbyters and Deacons both being but subservient Ministers unto the Bishop who did allot them out their turns and stations in the officiating of Gods divine Service the Presbyters not having yet assigned them their particular bounds wherewith to execute the same as in the time succeeding it is plain they had Of which more hereafter In the mean time we must examine whether the Church of Corinth to which Clemens writ had not been setled by the Apostle in that Form of Government which had been every where established in the neighbour Cities And certainly I can see no reason why Corinth should not have a Bishop aswell as Athens or Philippi or the Thessalonians Hierom. in Titum cap. 1. in Epist ad Euagr. or any other Church of Greece or Macedon I see much reason why it should For if that Bishops were first instituted in Schismatis remedium for remedy of Schism as Saint Hierom saith assuredly the Church of Corinth being first pestered with that foul Disease should first of all in all congruity be fitted with the remedy so proper and peculiar to it A Bishop then they were to have by Saint Hieroms Rule and that as soon as any other Church what ever but who this Bishop was is not yet so evident By Dorotheus in Synopsi Silas Saint Pauls most individual Companion is said to be the Bishop of this Church Corinthiorum constitutus est Episcopus as his words there are Baron in Rom. Martyrol Julii 13. wherein Hippolitus concurring with him doth make the matter the more probable And though I will not take upon me to justifie the reports of Dorotheus where there is any reason to desert him as there is too often yet when the point by him delivered doth neither cross the holy Scripture nor any of the ancient Writers as in this he doth not I know not why his word may not pass for currant Nay if we please to search the Scripture we may find some hint for the defence of Dorotheus in this one particular For whereas we find often mentioned that Silus did accompany Saint Paul in many of his peregrinations the last time that we find him spoke of is in the 18. of the Acts which time he came unto Saint Paul Verse 5 to Corinth After there is no mention of him in the book of God And possibly the reason of it may be this in brief that he was left there by Saint Paul to look unto the government of that mighty City Which when he could not do by the Word and Doctrine Saint Paul reserving for a time the jurisdiction to himself V. Chap. 4. n. 5. as before was said and that the Factions there did increase and multiply for want of ordinary power to suppress the same Saint Paul might then invest him with authority making him Bishop of the place both in Power and Title This if it may be counted probable I desire no more And then as we have found the first Bishop in the Church of Corinth we shall with greater ease and certainty find out a second though his name were Primus for proof of whose being Bishop here Ap. Easeb Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 21. x 6. Ibid. c. 24. x 5. Id. lib. 5. c. 21. x 6. we have the testimony of Egisippus who took him in his Journey towards Rome and abode long with him giving him special commendation both for his Orthodoxy and Humanity After succeeded Dionysius next to him Bachyllus of both which we shall speak hereafter in convenient place From the Epistle of this Clemens unto those of Corinth which is his undoubtedly proceed we next unto the Canons commonly called the Apostles Canons Bellarm. Baron alii Tertul. adver Praxeam supposed to be collected by him but so supposed that still there is a question of it whether his or not That they are very ancient is unquestinable as being mentioned by Tertullian and cited in some of the ancientest Councils whereof the acts and monuments are now remaining on Record But being it is confessed on all hands Binius in natis ad Can. Apo. quosdam ab haereticis corruptos that some of them have been corrupted by the Hereticks of old the better to advance their cause by so great a Patronage we must be very wary how we build upon them And howsoever Bellarmine be exceeding confident Lib. De Seriptor Eccl. in Clemente Annal. An. 102. n. 17. that the first 50 are most true and genuine and probably it may so be yet I conceive it safe to admit them on those sober cautions which are commended to us by Baronius who on a full debate of the point in question doth resolve it thus Illi tantum nobis ex Apostolieis fontibus c. Those Canons only seem to us saith he to be derived from the Apostolical fountains which have either been admitted and incorporated by the Fathers into the Canons of succeeding Councils or confirmed by the authority of the Bishops of Rome aut in communem usum Ecclesiasticae disciplinae or otherwise have been continually practiced in the Churches Discipline The first and last these three cautions I conceive to be exceeding sound and should not stumble at the second had the Decrees and Ordinances of the ancient Popes come incorrupted to our hands Which ground thus laid we will now see what the Apostles Canons have delivered in the present business and that we shall distribute as it doth relate to Bishops either in point of their Admission how and by whom they are to be Ordained or of their carriage and behaviour being once admitted how far to disoblige themselves from the employments of the World or of their Jurisdiction over the inferiour Clergy whom they are to govern These are the points which are most clearly offered us to be considered of in the aforesaid Canons and these we shall present and then consider of them accordingly And first in way of their Admission to that sacred Function it seemeth to be the first care of the Collector that it be done according to the mind and meaning of the holy Apostles and therefore it is put in the very front viz. That a Bishop is not to be ordained but by three Bishops or by two at the least ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Canon hath it Canon Apost 1. A Canon which hath all the Rules and cautions required by Baronius for proof of its antiquity and Apostolical institution as being confirmed by many of the Decretals in case they were of any credit incorporated first into the Canons of the Council of Arles Concil Arelat Can. 21. Nicen. Can. 4. as afterwards in those of Nice and generally continued in the constant practice and perpetual usage of the Church Only the difference is that the old Canon doth admit of Ordinations made by two Bishops if a third may not conveniently be had
as chief a fifth of all the Churches about Osroena and the parts adjoyning Bachyllus Bishop of Corinth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and many other Bishops of particular Churches held their Synod also apart and separate which all with one consent determined that the feast of Easter was to be observed on no other day than that upon the which our Saviour rose contrary to the usage of the Asian Churches In agitation of which business I observe these things First that Episcopacy in so short a time was setled and confirmed over all the World or so much of it at the least as had received the Faith and Gospel Secondly that on all emergent Controversies that did engage the Church of Christ the Bishops as men most concerned in the Churches Peace were still most forward also to compose the same Thirdly that on the practices of the Popes of Rome to enlarge their border the Bishops of the Church of what part soever have always been most ready to oppose the same and keep that proud and swelling See within the compass of its proper and peculiar bounds So far were those most godly and Religious men Sâectymn p. 30. from making a stirrup for Antichrist to get into his Saddle though some have so given out in these later days to the dishonour of those glorious lights in the House of Christ and the profane reproach not only of the wisdom of that Church but also of the Holy Spirit of Almighty God Fourthly That on the rising of such differences as did disturb the Churches Peace the Bishops of the Church have an innate and proper power Bellarm. de Con. l. 1.12 of convocating and assembling Councils both National and Provincial for the appeasing of the same wherein the greatest Champions of the Popedom do consent also Which Power as they made use of as their own peculiar when as there were no Christian Princes to have a care unto the main so since there have been Christian Princes that Power is not extinguished but directed only Fifthly that in those Councils or Synodical meetings the Bishops and their Clergy had authority both to debate and to determine of all such matters as did concern the Church of Christ either in point of Faith or Ceremony not seeking any confirmation of their Acts and Ordinances from that Christian People who were to yield obedience to them And last of all that such things as by them were then determined did presently oblige all people under the governance and direction of the said Prelates and Clergy so met together and assembled as before is said as appears partly by that calm which followed over all the Church upon the holding of these Synods but principally by that end which afterwards was put unto this Controversie by the Council of Nice But to proceed with Irenaeus that Religious Prelate from what he did as Bishop in the Churches service for the atoning of her differences and the advancement of her peace to that which he hath left behind him concerning Bishops as a learned Writer the light and glory of this Age. Which evidence of his because it doth relate to the Episcopal succession in the Church of Christ as a foundation on the which he doth build his structures we will first look on the Succession of the four prime Sees by which we may conjecture at the state and quality of all the rest And this we cannot do at a better time than where now we are the time when Victor sat in the Chair of Rome which being in the close of the present Century gives us opportunity to look as well upon his Predecessors as his and their Cotemporaries in the same And first for Rome from Clemens where we first began Euseb in Chrâ to Victor which is now the subject of our History we find the names and actions of nine intermediate Bishops Clemens being the fourth and Victor the 14th in that Catalogue most of the which had suffered death for the sake of Christ whose honour they preferred before worldly glories For Antioch next I find that from Ignatius who began this Century unto Serapion who sat Bishop there in the conclusion of the same were five Bishops only and that in Alexandria from Cerdo to Demetrius inclusively were no more than seven By which it is most clear and evident that the Bishops in neither of these Churches held the Chair by turns from week to week or from month to month as some men suppose Beza de diversgrad but were invested with a constant and fixt preheminence such as the Bishops now enjoy in the Church of Christ some of them in the two last specially holding out ten years some twenty others more than that as by the Tables of Succession published by Eusebius doth at full appear As for Hierusalem the Bishops thereof indeed held not out so long there being no fewer than thirteen from Simeon unto Marcus the first Bishop of that Church which was not of the Circumcision and thirteen more betwixt this Marcus and Narcissus who closed this Century So that within one hundred years there sat nine and twenty Bishops in this Church which sheweth as Baronius well observeth Bar. in Annal. An. 113. Ecclesiam Hyerosolymitanam dira fuisse persecutione vexatam that this poor Church was terribly afflicted with persecutions And so it is most like to be For standing as it did betwixt Jew and Gentile and equally hated of them both how could it chuse but suffer under a double tyranny each of the adversaries striving who should most afflict her Nor hath Eusebius only given a bare and naked list of names but calculated punctually and precisely the time and years in which all the Bishops of the three first Sees did possess the Government of those Churches which he professeth that he could not find in the last exactly by reason of the shortness of their lives ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Euseb Eccl. hist lib. 4. cap. 5. Niceph. Chron. as his words there are But what we fail of there we find performed after by Nicephorus who hath assigned to every one of them his own term and time in the which whether he be rather censured than rectified by Petavius Animadvers in Epiph. hares 66. I mean not to examine in this place and time For howsoever at the first Hierusalem was not reckoned for a Patriarchal Church as the others were yet in regard of the opinion which was held of the place it self as being honoured with the Passion of our Lord and Saviour and with the Preaching of the Holy Hpostles and consequently reckoned for the Mother-City of the Christian Church the Bishops of that Church were in great esteem and the Episcopal succession there preserved on exact record as in the three great Patriarchal Sees before remembred But here I meet with an Objection that must first be answered before we see what use is made of this Episcopal succession by the ancient writers For if that those
The like he also proves by the electing of Matthias Bishop in the place of Judas which was performed in medio Discentium in the middest of the Disciples and in the chusing of the seven done in the face of all the People This is the sum of what is there delivered by St. Cyprian and out of this I find three Corollaries or Conclusions gathered Smectymn p. 34. First that the special Power of judging of the worthiness and unworthiness of a man for the Prelacy was in the brest of the People Secondly The special Power of chusing or rejecting to his place according as they judged him worthy or unworthy resided in the People Thirdly That this power did descend upon the People de Divina Autoritate by Divine authority These are the points collected from St. Cyprians words which with the words themselves out of the which they are collected are to be taken into consideration because the weight of all this business doth rest upon them And first as for St. Cyprians words there is no such command of God touching Eleazar Pamel Annot. in Cypr. fol. 68. in any Bibles now remaining as is there laid down which thing Pamelius well observed And more than so the Text of Scripture now remaining is contrary to that which is there alledged God willing or commanding Moses to bring Aaron and Eleazar his son up into Mount Hor whither the people neither did nor might ascend Government of the Church c. 15. Numb 20.27 c. as it is well observed by our learned Bilson So that Eleazar not being chosen by the People but by God immediatly and his Ordination solemnized on the top of the Mount Moses and Aaron being only at the doing of it this can be no good Argument that the Election of the Prelate doth specially pertain unto the People And therefore it is very probable that Cyprian met with some corrupted Copy of the Book of God or else that we have none but corrupted Copies of the books of Cyprian As for the Election of Matthias Acts 1.15 though it was done in medio Discentium in the presence of the Disciples as the Scripture tells us yet surely the Disciples had no hand in the Hection the calling of an Apostle being too high a work for any of the sons of men to aspire unto ibid. ver 24. peculiar only to the Lord our God to whom the choice is also attributed in holy Scripture As for the Seven being they were to be the Stewards of the People in the disposing of their goods for the common benefit of the Church as before was noted good reason that the Election should be made by them whose goods and fortunes were to be disposed of So that there is no Law of God no Divine Ordinance of his expressed in Scripture by which the People are entituled either unto a special power of chusing their Bishops or to a necessary presence of the action though there be many good and weighty reasons which might induce the Fathers in the Primitive times not only to require their presence but sometimes also to crave their approbation and consent in the Elections of the Prelate Now for the presence of the People that seemeth to be required on this reason chiefly that their testimony should be had touching the life and behaviour of the party that was to be Ordained lest a wicked and unworthy person should get by stealth into the function of a Bishop it being required of a Bishop by St. Paul amongst other things that he must have a good report And who more able to make this report than the People are 1 Tim. 3. quae plebs viz. singulorum vitam plenissime novit who being naturally inquisitive Cypr. Epi. 68. know each mans life and hath had experience of his Conversation And as for their consent there wanted not some reasons why it was required especially before the Church was setled in a constant maintenance and under the protection and defence of a Christian Magistrate For certainly as our Reverend Bilson well observeth Bilson's perpetual Government c. 15. the People did more willingly maintain more quietly receive more diligently hear and more heartily love their Bishops when their desires were satisfied in the choice though merely formal of the man than when he was imposed upon them or that their fancies and affections had been crossed therein But yet I cannot find upon good authority that the special power of chusing or rejecting did reside in them though indeed somewhat did depend upon their approbation of the party and this no otherwise than according to the custom of particular Churches In Africk as it seems the use was this that on the death or deposition of a Bishop Cypr. Ep. 68. Episcopi ejusdem Provinciae quique proximi conveniant the neighbouring Bishops of the Province did meet together and repair unto that People who were to be provided of a Pastor that so he might be chosen praesente Plebe the People being present at the doing of it and certifying what they knew of his Conversation And this appears to be the general usage per Provincias fere universas through almost all parts of Christendom Where plainly the Election of the new Prelate resided in the Bishops of the same Province so convened together and if upon examination of his life and actions there was no just exception laid against him manus ei imponebatur he was forthwith ordained Bishop and put into possession of his place and Office But it was otherwise for a long while together in the great Patriarchal Church of Alexandria in which the Presbyters had the Election of their Bishop Presbyteri unum ex se Electum as St. Hierom noteth Hieron ad Euagrium the Presbyters of that Church did chuse their Bishop from amongst themselves no care being had for ought appeareth in the Father either unto the Peoples consent or presence And this continued till the time of Heraclas and Dionysius as he there informeth us of whom we shall speak more hereafter But whatsoever interest either the Clergy in the one Church or the People challenged in the other there is remaining still a possession of it in the Church of England the Chapter of the Cathedral or Mother-Church making the Election in the name of the Clergy the King as Caput Reipublicae the head and heart also of his people designing or commending a man unto them and freedom left unto the People to be present if they will at his Election and to except against the man as also at his Confirmation if there be any legal and just exception to be laid against him Next for the Ordination of the Presbyters it was St. Cyprians usual custom to take the approbation of the People along with him as he himself doth inform us in an Epistle of his to his charge at Carthage inscribed unto the Presbyters and Deacons and the whole body of the people In ordinandis clericis
Sed nondum vindicatus but not asserted to that honour not established in it So great was the Authority of Bishops over that of Martyrs whether dead or living But to return unto S. Cyprian whom we have found so stout a Champion in the defence of his Episcopal Authority that though there was a kind of necessity of complying as the world went with him both with his Presbyters and People yet notwithstanding he knew how to resume his power and neither take their counsel nor consent but on some occasions Had he done otherwise he had indeed betrayed the honour of his calling which in the point of practice which he so often doth extol both for Divinity of Institution and excellency of Jurisdiction in the way of Theory For if we look into his writings we shall soon find what his opinion was touching the institution of Episcopacy which he maintaineth in several places to be Jure Divino no Ecclesiastical device no humane Ordinance For grounding the Authority of his calling on those words of Christ Tibi dabo Claves Cypr. Ep. 27. he sheweth that ever since that time the Church hath been constituted upon Bishops and every Act thereof by them administred Then adds Cum hoc itaque Divina lege fundatum sit that since it is so ordered by the Law of God or by Divine Law which you will he marveleth much that any one should write such Letters to him as he had formerly received from some of the collapsed Christians In his Epistle to Cornelius Id. Ep. 55. he calleth the Office of a Bishop in governing the Church of God Sublimem Divinam potestatem an high and Divine Authority and tells us of the same de Divina dignatione firmatur that it is founded and confirmed by Divine Providence or favour In that unto Rogatianus Idem Ep. 65. Apostolos i. e. Episcopos Praepositos Dominus elegit the Lord saith he did choose Apostles that is the Bishops and Governors of the Church Therefore if we that are the Bishops ought to do nothing against God qui Episcopos facit who made us Bishops so neither ought the Deacons to do any thing in despite of us who made them Deacons Finally in that unto Florentius Pupianus Idem Ep. 69. who had charged him as it seems with some filthy crimes he affirmeth often that the Bishop is appointed by God himself Sacerdotes per Deum in Ecclesia constitui that they are placed in the Church by God Deum Sacerdotes facere that God makes Bishops and in a word Apostolis Vicaria ordinatione succedere they that succeeded the Apostles as their proper Substitutes As for the excellency of the Episcopal power take this once for all where he affirmeth to Cornelius non aliunde haereses abortas esse Idem Ep. 55. that Schisms and Heresies do proceed from no other fountain than this That there is no obedience yielded to the Bishop or Priest of God for in the ancient stile of many of the Fathers Sacerdos and Bishop is the same Vel unus in Ecclesia ad tempus Sacerdos ad tempus Judex vice Christi cogitatur and that men do not think that there is one Bishop only for the time in a Christian Church one for the time that judgeth in the place of Christ Pamel Annot. in Cypr. Ep. 55. Which words since many of the Advocates for the Popes Supremacy have drawn against all right and reason from their proper purpose to the advancement of the dignity of the See of Rome S. Cyprian writing this unto Cornelius then the Bishop there we may hear him speaking the same words almost in his own behalf Inde enim Schismata c. From hence saith he do Schisms and Heresies arise Cypr. Ep. 69. whilst the Bishop being but one in every Church is slighted by the proud presumption of some men and he by man is judged unworthy whom God makes worthy of his favours And because possibly it may be thought that Cyprian might be partial in the heightning of his own Authority I shall crave leave to back him with Saint Hierom's words Hieron adv Luciferian none of the greatest fautors of Episcopacy who affirms as much who tells us plainly that the safety of the Church depends on the chief Priest or Bishop Cui si non exors ab omnibus eminens detur potestas to whom in case there be not given an eminent and transcendent power there will be shortly as many Schisms in the Church as Priests But it is time to leave S. Cyprian who went unto the Lord his God through the door of Martyrdom Anno 261. proceeding from the Church of Carthage to that of Alexandria the next neighbour to it CHAP. V. Of the condition and affairs of the two Patriarchal Churches of Alexandria and Antiochia 1. Of the foundation and first Professors of the Divinity-School in Alexandria 2. What is affirmed by Clemens one of those Professors concerning Bishops 3. Origen the Divinity-Reader there permitted to expound the Scriptures in the presence of the Bishop of Caesarea 4. Contrary to the custom of the Alexandrian and Western Churches 5. Origen ordained Presbyter by the Bishops of Hierusalem ad Caesarea and excommunicated by the Bishop of Alexandria 6. What doth occur touching the superiority and power of Bishops in the works of Origen 7. The custom of the Church of Alexandria altered in the election of their Bishops 8. Of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria and his great care and travails for the Churches peace 9. The Government of the Church in the former times by letters of intercourse and correspondence amongst the Bishops of the same 10. The same continued also in the present Century 11. The speedy course taken by the Prelats of the Church for the suppressing of the Heresies of Samosatenus 12. The Civil Jurisdiction train and thrones of Bishops things not unusual in this Age. 13. The Bishops of Italy and Rome made Judges in a point of title and possession by the Roman Emperor 14. The Bishops of Italy and Rome why reckoned as distinct in that Delegation AND being come to Alexandria the first thing presents it self to our observation is the Divinity-School there being which we must first take notice of before we look into the Church which in this Age was furnished hence both with Religious Bishops and Learned Presbyters Eus hist Eccl. lib. 5. c. 10. A School as it appeareth by Eusebius of no small Antiquity who speaking of the times of Commodus saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that of an antient custom there had been a School for teaching of Divinity and other parts of Literature which had been very much frequented in the former times and so continued till his days According to which plat-form first Schools and after Universities had their consideration in the Church from whence as from a fruitful Seminary she hath been stored ever since with the choicest wits for the advancement of her publique service
But for this School of Alexandria the first Professor there which occurs by name Id. ibid. is said to be Pantaenus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a man renowned in all parts of Learning first a Philosopher of the Sect of Stoicks and afterwards a famous Christian Doctor A man so zealously affected to the Gospel of Christ that for the propagating of the same he made a journey to the Indies and after his return he took upon him the Professorship in the School aforesaid ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã opening the treasures of Salvation both by word and writing Id. l. 5. c. 11. And I the rather instance in him because that under him Clemens of Alexandria learned his first Principles of Religion and after him succeeded in his Chair or Office who being by birth of Athens and of the same family with the former Clemens the fourth Bishop of Rome upon his coming and abode at Alexandria gained the surname or additament of Alexandrinus Now that Clemens was Divinity-reader in the School of Alexandria Id. l. 6. c. 5. is said expresly by Eusebius where he affirmeth also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Origen was one of his Disciples Who after coming to the place himself Id. li. 6. cap. 12. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was followed in the same by Heraclas and Dionysius successively both of them Scholars in the School of Origen both severally and successively Readers or Doctors in the same and both first Heraclas Dionysius next Bishops or Patriarchs of Alexandria So that within the space of half an hundred years this School thus founded or at the least advanced in reputation by Pantaenus brought forth the said four famous Doctors Clemens and Origen Heraclas and Dionysius all of them in their times men of great renown and the lights and glory of their Age. And though I might relate the names of many other men of fame and credit who had their breeding in these Schools did it concern the business which I have in hand yet I shall instance in no more but these and these it did concern me to make instance of because their Acts and Writings are the special subject of all that is to come in this present Chapter and were indeed the greatest business of that Age. And first for Clemens not to take notice of those many Books which were written by him a Catalogue whereof Eusebius gives us and from him St. Hierom Euseb hist Ecc. l. 6. c. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã those which concern us most were his eight books inscribed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which are now not extant and those entituled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which are still remaining In the first eight he tells us in the way of story that Peter James and John after Christs Ascension Id. l. 2. c. 2. how high soever in the favour of their Lord and Master contended not amongst themselves for the place and honour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but made choice of James surnamed the Just to be the Bishop of Hierusalem that Peter on perusal of the Gospel writ by Mark ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. ib. c. 14. confirm'd the same by his authority for the advancement of the Church that James ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. Ibid. cap. 22. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to whom the Bishoprick of Hierusalem had been committed by the Apostles was by the malice of the Jews done to a cruel death that John the Apostle after Domitian's death Id. l. 3. c. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã returned to Ephesus from Patmos and going at the intreaty of his friends to the neighbour Nations ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in some parts he ordained Bishops in others planted or established Churches in others by the guidance of the holy Spirit electing fit men for the Clergy telling withal the story of a certain Bishop to whom the said Apostle did commit a young man to be trained up All which he might affirm with the greater confidence because he tells us of himself Id. l. 6. cap. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he lived very near the Apostles times and so might have the better light to discern their actions And for the other eight remaining although there is but little in them which concerns this Subject the Argument of which he writeth not having any thing to do therewith yet in that little we have mention of the several Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the Churchof God And first for Bishops speaking of the domestick Ministeries that belong to marriage he shews that by the Apostles Rule Clement Alexand Stroma lib. 3. such Bishops are to be appointed for the Church of God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as by the orderly government of their private families may be conceived most fit and likely to have a care unto the Church Where clearly by his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he means not Presbyters as the Apostle is conceived to mean in his Epistle to Timothy For howsoever the Presbyters might be trusted with the charge of a particular Congregation yet had they never the inspection the care or governance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of a whole Church or many Churches joyned together as the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may be rendred That was the privilege and power of Bishops So for the two inferiour Orders we find them in another place Id. ibid. li. 7. where he divides such things as concern this life into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã matters of improvement and advantage and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã subservient only thereunto then adds that in the Church of God the Deacons exercise the subservient Offices ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but that the Presbyters attend those others which conduce to our amendment or improvement in the way of godliness Out of which words if any man can gather that judging of the conversation or crimes of any members of the Church that discipline which worketh emendation in men is in the power of the Elders Smectymn p. 38. as I see some do he must needs have a better faculty of extraction than the best Chymist that I know of In all that place of Clemens not a word of Judging nor so much as a syllable of Discipline A power of bettering and amending our sinful lives he gives indeed unto the Presbyters but that I hope both is and may be done by the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments with which the Presbyters are and have been trusted This is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the bettering and improving power which belongs to them and not the dispensation of the Keys which have been always put into other hands or if at any time into theirs it hath been only in a second and inferiour place not in the way of judging in the course of Discipline Next let us look on Origen a man of most prodigious parts both for Wit and Learning who at the Age of eighteen years was made a
Catechist in the Church Hieron de Script Eccl. in Origine and afterward a publick Reader in the Schools of Alexandria a man in whom there was nothing ordinary either good or ill for when he did well none could do it better and when he erred or did amiss none could do it worse The course and method of his studies the many Martyrs which he trained up in the School of Piety the several Countreys which he travelled either for informing of himself or others belong not unto this Discourse Suffice it that his eminence in all parts of Learning and his great pains in his profession Euseb bist Eccl. l. 6. c. 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. ib. c. 13. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã made him most grateful for a time unto Demetrius the Patriarch of Alexandria though after upon envy at the mans renown he did endeavour to diminish his reputation For on occasion of the Wars in Egypt seeing he could not stay in safety there he went unto Caesarea the Metropolitan See of Palestine where though not yet in holy Orders he was requested by the Bishop not only to dispute in publick as his custom was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but also to expound the Scriptures and that too ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the open Church Which when it came unto the knowledg of Demetrius he forthwith signified by Letters his dislike thereof affirming it to be an unaccustomed and unheard of thing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that any Lay-man should presume to Preach or Expound Scripture in the Bishops presence But hereunto it was replyed by Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea and Alexander Bishop of Hierusalem who was also there that he had quite mistook the matter it being lawful for such men as were fit and eminent to speak a word of exhortation to the People or to preach unto them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if they were thereunto required by the Bishop instancing in Euelpis Paulinus and Theodorus godly brethren all who on the like authority had so done before and they for their parts being of opinion that others besides them had done so too In agitation of which business there are these two things presented to us first the regard and reverence which was had in those Pious times unto the person of a Bishop and then the power and authority that was vested in them For first it seems that men of whatsoever parts though of great spirit and abilities did notwithstanding think it an unfitting thing to meddle with expounding Scripture or edifying of the People in case the Bishop was in place And yet as strange and uncouth as it was or was thought to be the Licence of the Bishop made it lawful But then withal we must conceive of Preaching in this place and story not as a Ministerial Office but only as an Academical or Scholastical exercise according as it is still used in our Universities where many not in holy Orders preach their turns and courses And yet indeed Demetrius was not so much out as they thought he was but had good ground to go upon though possibly there was some intermixture of envy in it For whatsoever had been done in the Eastern Churches the use was otherwise in Alexandria and in the Churches of the West in which it was so far unusual for Lay-men to expound or preach in the Bishops presence that it was not lawful for the Presbyters For in the neighbour Church of Carthage it was thus of old in these times at least For when Valerius Bishop of Hippo a Diocese within that Province being by birth a Grecian and not so well instructed in the pronunciation of the Latin Tongue perceived his Preaching not to be so profitable to the common People for remedy thereof having then lately ordained Augustin Presbyter eidem potestatem dedit coram se in Ecclesia Evangelium praedicandi Possidon in vit Aug. c. 5. he gave him leave to preach the Gospel in the Church though himself were present And this saith Possidonius who relates the story was contra usum consuetudinem Ecclesiarum Africanarum against the use and custom of the African Churches and many Bishops thereabouts did object as much But the old man bearing himself upon the custom of the Eastern Church where it was permitted would not change his course By means whereof it came to pass that by this example some Presbyters in other places acceptâ ab Episcopis potestate being thereto licenced by the Bishop did preach before them in the Church without controul For Austin being afterwards Bishop of Hippo in the place of Valerius applauds Aurelius the Metropolitan of Carthage Aug. Ep. 77. for giving way unto the same commending him for the great care he took in his Ordinations but specially de sermone Presbyterorum qui te praesente populo infunditur for the good Sermons preached by the Presbyters unto the People in his presence But this permission or allowance was only in some places in some Churches only perhaps in none but those of Africk For Hierom writing to Nepotian being himself a Presbyter in the Church of Rome complains thereof ut turpissimae consuetudinis Hieron ad Nepotianum as of a very evil custom that in some Churches the Presbyters were not to preach if the Bishop were by And though he was a man of great authority with Damasus and others his Successours Popes of Rome yet got he little by complaining the custom still continuing as before it was And this is clear by the Epistle of Pope Leo in which as it is declared unlawful to perform divers other Sacred Offices in the Bishops presence Leon. Ep. 88. without his special Precept and Command so also is there a non licet in this point of Preaching which was not to be done nec populum docere ncc plebem exhortari if the Bishop were then present in the Congregation So that this being then an ancient and received custom must needs be now in force when Demetrius lived and as it seems by his expostulation in the case of Origen had been no less observed in Alexandria than in Rome or Africk There was indeed a time and that shortly after in which the Presbyters of Alexandria might not preach at all ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it is in Socrates Socrat. hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 21. Which general restraint as it was occasioned by reason of the factions raised by Arius or other troubles of that Church in the beginning of the Age next following so it continued till the times of Socrates and Sozomen Sozom. hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 19. who lived about the middle of the sixth Century and take notice of it So that as it appeared before in the case of Austin that the Bishops have a power to Licence so it appears by that of Arius that they also have a power to silence But to return again to Origen the Bishops of Caesarea and Hierusalem finding how profitable a Servant
formatae or communicatoriae were these Letters called as in the 163 Epistle of S. Austin where both names occur This as it was the usage of the former times so was there never more need to uphold the same than in the latter part of this present Age. So mighty a distemper had possessed the Church that no part almost of it was in a tolerable constitution and therefore it concerned the Bishops to be quick and active before the maladies thereof became incurable In that of Carthage besides the faction raised by Felicissimus which had no countenance from the Church there was an erroneous doctrine publickly received about the Baptism of Hereticks The Church of Alexandria besides the heat she fell into concerning Origen was much disquieted by the Heresie of Sabellius broached within the same And that no sooner was suppressed or at lest quieted for the present but a great flame brake out in the Church of Antioch which beginning in the House of Paulus Samosatenus before remembred had like to have put all the Church into combustion Rome in the mean time was afflicted more than all the rest by the Schism raised and the false doctrines preached therein by Novatianus and that not for a fit only and no more but so but in a constant kind of sickness which disturbed her long In this distemper of the Church the Bishops had no way to consult her health but by having recourse to their old way of mutual commerce and conference which being it could not be performed in person must be done by Letters And so accordingly it was Witness those several Letters written by St. Cyprian to the Bishops of Rome viz. from him to Stephanus Epist 71. to Lucius Epist 58. and to Cornelius Epist 42 43 47 54 55 57. to the Church there Epist 23 29. and from the Church of Rome and the Bishops of it unto him again Epist 31 46 48 49. In all of which they mutually both give and take advice as the necessities of their affairs and the condition of the Church required Nor was the business of the Church of Carthage in agitation between Cyprian only and the Roman Prelates but taken also into the care and consideration of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria Euseb hist Ecc. l. 7. cap. 2. who writ his judgment in it and advice about it to Stephanus then Pope of Rome who held against St. Cyprian or indeed rather for the truth in the point in question What the same Dionysius did for the suppressing of the faction of Novatus raised in Rome at first but after spreading further over all the Church we have in part beheld already by his Epistle unto Fabius of Antiochia who was suspected to incline that way and that inscribed unto Cornelius written about that business also which before we spake of And we may see what Cyprian did in recompence of that advice and comfort which he had from Rome in his own afflictions by the great care he took for the composing of her Schisms and troubles when she fell into them by his Epistles to that only purpose as viz. those unto Cornelius Cypr. Ep. 41. Id. Ep. 42. Id. Ep. 43. Id. Ep. 50 51. Id. Ep. 48 49. intituled Quod ordinationem Novatiani non receperit De ordinatione ejus à se comprobata Quod ad Confessores à Novatiano seductos literas fecerit The Letters of those seduced Confessors to him and his congratulation unto them upon their return to their obedience to the Church Cornelius writing unto him touching the faction of Novatian and their wicked practices with his Reply unto Cornelius Thus also when Sabellius began to broach his Heresies within the jurisdiction of Alexandria he did not only signifie the same to the Bishop of Rome which by the Cardinal is used I know not how for a prime Argument Baron in Annal Eccl. Anno 260. n. 62. to prove the Popes Supremacy but unto divers other Bishops as before was shewn to whom assuredly he owed no obedience This as he did according to the usage of the Church at that time in force so took he other courses also for the suppression of that Heresie both by power and pen. For finding upon certain information ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that diverse Bishops of Pentapolis Athan. de sentent Dionys being within the Patriarchat of Alexandria began to countenance and embrace the said desperate doctrines and had so far prevailed therein that there was hardly any mention in their Churches of the Son of God he knowing that the care and oversight of the said Churches did belong to him first laboured by his Messengers and Commissioners to dissuade them from those lewd opinions and when that would not do the deed he was constrained to write unto them an Epistle in which he throughly confuted their erroneous Tenets By which as we may see the care and piety of this famous Prelate triumphing in the fall of Heresie so we may see the power and eminency of that famous See having the governance and superintendency of so many Churches But that which was indeed the greatest business of his time and which the Church was most concerned in was that of Paulus Samosatenus the sixteenth Bishop of the Church of Antioch great in relation to the man Euseb Eccl. hist l. 7. c. 22. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one of the three prime Bishops in the Christian Church and great inference to the danger which was like to follow When one of the main Pillars of a Church is foundred the whole edifice is in danger of a present ruin And therefore presently upon the apprehension of the mischief likely to ensue in case there was no speedy course taken to prevent the same the Bishops of all parts repaired to Antioch not only those which were within the jurisdiction of that Patriarchate but such as lived far off and in all possibility might have kept their Churches from the infection of the Heresie being so remote For thither came Firmilianus Bishop of Caesarea Id. Ibid. in Cappadocia Gregory surnamed Thaumaturgus Bishop of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus and Athenodorus his brother another Bishop of that Province Helenus Bishop of Tarsus Nicomas Bishop of Iconium Hymenaeus Bishop of Hierusalem Maximus Bishop of Bostra Theoctecnus Bishop of Caesarea the Metropolis of Palestine and so many others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the number of them was innumerable Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria was required also to be there Id. ibid. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but he excused himself by reason of his age and weakness And well indeed he might do so being then very ill at ease and dying whilst the Synod was in preparation Id. ibid. But what he could not do in person he performed by his Pen writing not only to the Fathers who were there assembled which Eusebius speaks of but to the Heretick himself a Copy of the which we have both in Baronius and the Bibliotheca as before was said As
them then who being well persuaded of their own safe-standing and perhaps having suffered much in testimony of their perseverance became the worse opinionated of those who had not been endued with an equal constancy So that upon a sudden unawares the Church of Rome was in a very great distemper the neighbouring Churches also suffering with it either in regard of their own peace which presently began to be endangered by this plausible and popular faction or out of commiseration unto the distresses of so great a number in the body mystical Nor was Cornelius wanting to the Church or the Church to him For presently upon the breaking out of the flame he gives notice of it to his dear Brother and Colleague S. Cyprian the Metropolitan of Carthage to Fabius Inter. Epistolas Cypr. Ep. 46.48 Euseb hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 35. n. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Patriarch of the Church of Antioch acquainting them with the whole story of the business assembling also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a great and famous Synod in the City of Rome consisting of sixty Bishops and as many Presbyters or more besides Deacons For being a Provincial Council and not General the Presbyters and others of the inferiour Clergy had their Votes therein according as they still enjoy on the like occasions And on the other side the Orthodox and Catholick Bishops made the cause their own neither repelling of his Agents who came to justifie his Ordination as S. Cyprian did Cypr. Epist 41. Euseb hist Eccl. lib. 6. c. 36. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. c. 35. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or writing in behalf of the Church against him as did Dionysius the Learned and renowned Bishop of Alexandria The like no doubt did other Bishops And more than so they caused several Councils to be called about it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in their several Provinces and charges as well in Italy as Africk in each of which the faction was condemned and the Arch-Schismatick with all his Fautors deprived of the communion of the Church I have the rather been more copious in the description of this Schism and the Authors of it than otherwise I would have been not only because of that great power and influence which it had after in the Church which we shall find hereafter in the prosecution of this present story if it please God to give me means and opportunity to go thorow with it but also for those many observations which any one that would be curious in collecting them might raise or gather from the same For first of all it must be noted that though Novatianus had a great desire to be made a Bishop and that he could not get it by a fair orderly Election as he should have done yet he could find no other entrance thereunto than by the door of Ordination and therein he would be Canonical though in nothing else For being a Presbyter before as Cornelius tells us in his Epistle unto Fabius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith that holy Prelate Id. ibid. he thought that did not qualifie him enough for the place and office of a Bishop unless he might receive Episcopal Ordination also And when he was resolved on that he would not be ordained but by three Bishops at the least according to the ancient Canon and the present practice of the Church and therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he procures three Bishops to be drawn together for the purpose And being thus Ordained he sends abroad his Agents into foreign Churches Cypr. E. 41. as viz. Maximus a Presbyter and Augendus a Deacon Macheus and Longinus and perhaps some others to the See of Carthage to have his Ordination ratified and himself acknwledged for a Bishop according to the commendable usage of those watchful times In which who would not but observe that Bishops had a different Ordination from the Presbyters and therefore do not differ from them only in degree or potestate Jurisdictionis but in the power of Order also and that this power of Order cannot be conferred regularly I mean and when there is no urgent and unavoidable necessity unto the contrary but by the joint assistance of three Bishops For how can any give that power of Order unto others with which they never were endued themselves Secondly it might be observed not to take notice of his seeking for the approbation of his neighbouring Prelates that the first Schism which did disturb the peace of these Western Churches was made by those who by the rigidness of their Profession were in that very instant termed Catharists Euseb hist Eccles l. 6.35 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as that Author hath it and that not to be Englished in a fuller Word than that of Puritans And thirdly that however in these later times the Scene be changed and that the greatest stirrs that have been raised in the Church have been for pulling down Bishops yet in the former times the course was otherwise most of their troubles and commotions being for setting up of Bishops when certain factious and unquiet spirits not willing to submit to the Chuches Government would have a Bishop of their own Certain I am that thus it was with the Novatians who though they stood divided from the Catholick Church a long time together yet they desired to be accounted for a Church and that they might be so accounted maintained an Episcopal Succession from the first Apostle of their Sect Socrat. bist Eccl. l. 5. c. 21. the names of many of their Bishops Agellius Sisinnius Marcianus others being to be found upon good record But from these counterfeit and schismatical Bishops proceed we forwards unto those who were acknowledged by the Church for true and real and amongst those keeping my self to the succession of the Church of Rome the fourth in order from Cornelius Baron Annal. Eccl. An. 261. Ap. Binium Concil Tom. 1. was Dionysius who entred on that weighty charge Anno 261. Of him we find in the Pontifical Presbyteris Ecclesias divisisse coemeteria Parochiasque dioeceses constituisse that he divided to the Presbyters their several Churches and Church-yards and that he first did set out Parishes and apportioned Diocesses Which as they were two several Actions so Platina Platina in vita Dionys assigns each action to its proper place making the first which was the distributing of the Presbyters into their several Churches and Churchyards then common places of Assembly to relate only to the City of Rome In urbe Roma statim divisit as his words there are Which being it had been done before by Pope Euaristus as hath been formerly observed we must resolve it with Baronius Baron in Annal An. 270. n. ult that this was a reviver only of the former Act and that the Presbyters being ravished from their Churches and the Church-yards taken from the Presbyters during the persecution of Valerian were afterwards restored again to their former
the Rectors as we call them of particular Churches Concil Tole Can. IV. Can. 25 26. and in the fourth Council of Toledo where we read of Presbyters ordained in paroeciis per paroecias for the use and service of particular Parishes And in this sense but specially indeed for a Countrey Parish the word is taken in an Epistle of Pope Innocentius Innocent lib. ad Decentium c. 5. in which Ecclesiae intra Civitatem constitutae the Churches situated in the City are distinguished plainly from Paroecias the Churches scattered in the Countrey Other Examples of this nature in the later Ages being almost infinite and obvious to the eye of every Reader I forbear to add So for the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we English Diocess it signified at first that part or portion of the Roman Empire there being thirteen of them in all besides the Prefecture of the City of Rome as before was noted which was immediately under the command of the Vicarius or Lieutenant General of those parts And was so called of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth to Govern or Administer Isocrat ad Nicoclen as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Isocrates ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Demosthenes a Diocess being that part or portion of the Empire which was committed to the Government and Administration of some principal Officer In which regard the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or dioecesis when it was first borrowed by the Church from the civil State was used to signifie that part or portion of the Church which was within the jurisdiction of a Primate containing all the circuit of the civil Diocess as was shewed before the Primate being stiled ordinarily ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as in the Council of Chalcedon Concil Chalcedon Car. 9.17 Novel const 123. c. 22. the Patriarch of the Diocess in the Laws Imperial But after as the former ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã began to lose its former latitude in which it signified the whole command or Jurisdiction of a Bishop which we call a Diocess and grew to be restrained to so narrow a compass as the poor limits of a Parish so did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã grow less also than at first it was and from a Patriarchal Diocess Horat. de Arte. fell by degrees custom and use prevailing in it quem penes arbitrium est ju norma loquendi as the Poet hath it to signifie no more than what Paroecia had done formerly a Diocess as now we call it whereof see Concil Antioch cap. 9. Con. Sardicens cap. 18. Constantinop ca. 2. Chalcedon ca. 17. Carthag III. can 20. IV. can 36. So then the just result of all is this that the Bishops of the Primitive times were Diocesan Bishops though they are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by some ancient Writers and that in the succeeding Ages as the Church increased and the Gospel of our Saviour did inlarge its borders so did the Countrey Villages obtain the name of Parishes or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã having to each of them a Presbyter for the administration of the Sacraments for their instruction both in Faith and Piety whom at this day we call the Rector of the Church or Parish And with this Presbyter or Rector call him as you will must we now proceed who by this Institution I mean the setting out of Parishes in the Countrey Villages did grow exceedingly both in authority and reputation For whereas upon the setting out of Parishes Concil Neo-Caesar ca. 13. the Presbyters became divided into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the City and the Countrey Presbyters each of them had their several priviledges the City Presbyters continuing as before the great Council of Estate unto the Bishop Concil Neo. ca. 13. and doing many things which were not suffered to be done by the Countrey Presbyters and on the other side the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Country Presbyters being more remote did many Ministerial Acts of their own authority which in the presence of their Bishop it was not lawful for them to have done And therefore I conceive the resolution of Bishop Downham in this case Defence of the Sermon l. 1. cap. 2. to be sound and good who telleth us That since the first distinguishing of Parisher and allotting of several Presbyters to them there hath been ever granted to them both potestas Ordinis the power of Orders as they are Ministers Et potestas jurisdictionis spiritualis seu internae a power of spiritual and inward jurisdiction to rule their flock after a private manner as it were in foro Conscientiae in the Court of Conscience as they are Pastors of that flock But because this allowance of a Jurisdiction in foro Conscientiae in the Court of Conscience seems not sufficient unto some who reckon the distinction of a Jurisdiction in foro externo Vindication of the Answ §. 9. in foro interno to be like that of Reflexius and Archipodialiter they do in this not only put the School-men unto School again in whom the like distinctions frequently occur but cross the best Divines in the Church of England who do adhere unto and approve the said distinctions And because many of both sorts may be found in one and that one publick's declared to be both Orthodox in doctrine and consonant in discipline to the Church of England by great Authority I will use his words Holy Table Ch. 3. A single Priest qua talis in that formality and capacity only as he is a Priest hath no Key given him by God or man to open the doors of any external Jurisdiction He hath a Consistory within in foro poenitentiae in the conscience of his Parishioners and a Key given him upon his institution to enter into it But he hath no Consistory without in foro causae in medling with Ecclesiastical causes unless he borrow a Key from his Ordinary For although they be the same Keys yet one of them will not open all these wards the Consistory of outward Jurisdiction not being to be opened by a Key alone but as you may observe in some great mens gates by a Key and a Staff which they usually call a Crosier This saith he I have ever conceived to be the ancient doctrine in this kind opposed by none but professed Puritans affirming further that all learned men in the Church of England do adhere unto it allowing the School-mens double power that of Order and that of Jurisdiction and the subdivision of this Jurisdiction into the internal and external appropriating this last to the Bishop only So he judiciously indeed and for the Authors by him cited both Protestant and School-Divines I refer you to him So then upon this setting out of Parishes the Presbyters which attended in the same had potestatem jurisdictionis a power of Jurisdiction granted to them in the Court of Conscience which needed not to have been granted before
under Eutychianus Baron Ann. Eccl. in An. 277. his next Successor and let them reconcile the difference that list for me Suffice it that the Heresie being risen up and being so directly contrary both to Faith and Piety the Bishops of the Church bestirred themselves both then and after for the suppressing of the same according to their wonted care of Her peace and safety Not as before in the case of Paulus Samosatenus by Synodical meetings which was the only way could be taken by them for the deposing of him from his Bishoprick which followed as a part of his condemnation but by discourse and Argument in publick Writings which might effectually suppress the Heresie although the person of the Heretick was out of distance and to say truth Epiph. advers haeres 66. n. 12. beyond their reach The Persian King had eased them of that labour who seizing on that wretched miscreant ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã commanded him to be flay'd alive and thereby put him to death as full of ignominy as of pain But for the confutation of the Heresie which survived the Author that was the business of the Bishops by whom as Epiphanius noteth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. Ibid. n. 21. many most admirable Disputations had been made in confutation of his Errors Particularly he instanceth in Archelaus Bishop of the Caschari a Nation of Mesopotamia Titus Bishop of Bostra Diodorus one of the Bishops of Cilicia Serapion Bishop of Thmua Eusebius the Historian Bishop of Caesarea Eusebius Emisenus Georgius and Apollinaris Bishops successively of Laodicea Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria with many other Prelates of the Eastern Churches Not that the Bishops of the West did nothing in it though not here named by Epiphanius who being of another Language could not so well take notice of their Works and Writings For after this St. Austin Bishop of Hippo wrote so much against them and did so fully satisfie and confute them both that he might justly say with the Apostle that he laboured more abundantly than they all So careful were the Bishops of the Churches safety that never any Heretick did arise but presently they set a watch upon him and having found what Heresies or dangerous doctrines he dispersed abroad endeavoured with all speed to prevent the mischief This as they did in other cases so was their care the more remarkable by how much greater was the person whom they were to censure Which as we have before demonstrated in the case of Paulus Patriarch of the Church of Antioch so we may see the like in their proceedings against Marcellinus one of the Popes of Rome the third from Felix who though he broached no Heresie as the other did yet gave as great a scandal to the Church as he if not greater far The times were hot and fiery in the which he sat so fierce a persecution being raised against the Church by Dioclesian and his Associates in the Empire as never had been before A persecution which extended not only to the demolishing of Churches Theod. Eccl. hist l. 5. c. 28. Arnob. cont gent. l. 4. in fine Damas in vita Marcellini the Temples of Almighty God but to the extirpation of the Scriptures the Books and Oracles of the Almighty And for the bodies of his Servants some of which were living Libraries and all lively Temples even Temples of the holy Ghost it raged so terribly amongst them that within Thirty days Seventeen thousand Persons of both sexes in the several parts and Provinces of the Romam Empire were crowned with Martyrdom the Tyrants so extreamly raging Marcellinus comes at last unto his trial where being wrought upon either by flattery or fear or both he yielded unto flesh and blood and to preserve his life Id. ibid. he betrayed his Master Ad sacrificium ductus est ut thurificaret quod fecit saith Damasus in the Pontifical He was conducted to the Temple to offer incense to the Roman Idols which he did accordingly And this I urge not to the scandal and reproach of the Church of Rome Indeed 't is no Reproach unto her that one amongst so many godly Bishops most of them being Martyrs also should waver in the constancy of his resolutions and for a season yield unto those persuasions which flesh and blood and the predominant love of life did suggest unto him That which I urge it for is for the declaration of the Course which was taken against him the manner how the Church proceeded in so great a cause and in the which so great a Person was concerned For though the crime were great and scandalous tending to the destruction of the flock of Christ which being much guided by the example of so prime a Pastor might possibly have been seduced to the like Idolatry and that great numbers of them ran into the Temple and were spectators of that horrid action yet find we not that any of them did revile him in word or deed or pronounced hasty judgment on him but left the cognizance of the cause to them to whom of right it did belong Nor is it an hard matter to discern who these Judges were Lay-men they could not be Amb. Epist l. 5. Ep. 32. that 's sure Quando audisti in causa fidei Laicos de Episcopis judicasse When did you ever hear saith Ambrose speaking of the times before him that Lay-men in a point of Faith did judge of Bishops And Presbyters they were not neither they had no Authority to judge the Person of a Bishop That Bishops had Authority to censure and depose their Presbyters we have shewn already that ever any Presbyters did take upon them to judge their Bishop is no where to be found I dare boldly say it in all the practice of Antiquity For being neither munere pares Id. ibid. nor jure suniles equal in function nor alike in law they were disabled now in point of reason from such bold attempts as afterwards disabled by Imperial Edict A simple Biship might as little intermeddle in it as a simple Presbyter for Bishops severally and apart were not to judge their Metropolitan no nor one another Being of equal Order and Authority and seeing that Par in parem non habet potestatem that men of equal rank qua tales are of equal power one of them cannot be the others Judge for want of some transcendent power to pass sentence on him Which as it was of force in all other cases wherein a Bishop was concerned so most especially in this wherein the party Criminal was a Metropolitan and more than so the Primate or Patriarch of the Diocess So that all circumstances laid together there was no other way conceivable in these ancient times than to call a Council the greatest Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Christ on earth there to debate the business and upon proof of the offence to proceed to judgment This had been done before in the case of Paulus and this is
it was a Ceremony and that the fourth Commandment is of a different nature from the other nine That whereas all the other precepts of the Decalogue are simply moral the fourth which is the third in their account 22. qu. 122. art 4. ad 1. is partly moral partly ceremonial Morale quidem quantum ad hoc quod homo deputet aliquod tempus vitae suae ad vacandum divinis c. Moral it is in this regard that men must set apart some particular time for Gods publick service it being natural to man to destinate particular times to particular actions as for his dinner for his sleep and such other actions Sed in quantum in hoc praecepto determinatur speciale tempus in s gnum creationis mundi sic est praeceptum ceremoniale But inasmuch as that there is a day appointed in the Law it self in token of Gods rest and the worlds creation in that respect the Law is ceremonial and ceremonial too they make it in reference to the Allegory our Saviours resting in the grave that day and in relation to the Analogical meaning of it as it prefigureth our eternal rest in the Heaven of glories Finally they conclude of the fourth Commandment that it is placed in the Decalogue in quantum est praeceptum morale non in quantum est ceremoniale only so far forth as it is moral and not as ceremonial that is that we are bound by the fourth Commandment to destinate some time to Gods publick service which is simply moral but not the Seventh day which is plainly ceremonial Aquinas so resolves it for all the rest In Gr at de Sabbato his judgment in this point if Doctor Prideaux note be true as I have no reason but to think so being universally embraced and followed by all the Schoolmen of what sect soever So that in him we have them all all of them consonant in this point to make up the Harmony however dissonant enough in many others But that this consent may appear the more full and perfect we will take notice of two others men famous in the Schools and eminent for the times in which they lived First Bonaventure who lived in the same time with Aquinas and died the same year with him which was 1274. hath determined thus Serm. de decem praecept Imelligendum est quod praeceptum illud habet aliquid quod est mere morale c. It is to be conceived saith he that in the fourth Commandment there is something which is simply moral something again that is plainly ceremonial and something mixt The sanctifying of a day is Moral the sanctifying of a Seventh day Ceremonial rest from the works of labour being mixt of both Quod praecipit Deus sanctificationem est Praeceptum morale Est in hoc praecepto aliquid ceremoniale ut figuratio dici septimae Item continetur aliquid quod est partim morale partim ceremoniale ut cessatio ab operibus Lastly In Exod. 20. qu. 11. Tostatus Bishop of Avila in Spain hath resolved the same aliquid est in eo juris naturalis aliquid legalis that in the fourth Commandment there is something Natural and something Legal that it is partly Moral and partly Ceremonial Naturale est quod dum Deum colimus ab aliis abstineamus c. Moral and Natural it is that for the time we worship God we do abstain from every thing of what kind soever which may divert our thoughts from that holy action But that we should design in every week one day unto that employment and that the whole day be thereto appointed and that in all that day a man shall do no manner of work those things he reckoneth there to be Ceremonial So for the Lords day it is thus determined by Aquinas that it depends on the authority of the Church the custom and consent of Gods faithful servants 2.20 qu. 122. art 4. ad 4. and not on any obligation laid upon us by the fourth Commandment Diei dominicae observantia in nova lege succedit observantiae sabbati non ex vi praecepti legis sed ex constitutione Ecclesiae consuetudine populi Christiani What followeth thereupon Et ideo non est ita arcta prohibitio operandi in die dominica sicut in die Sabbati Therefore saith he the prohibition of doing no work on the Lords day is not so rigorous and severe as upon the Sabbath many things being licensed on the one which were forbidden on the other as dressing meat and others of that kind and nature And not so only but he gives us a dispensatur facilius in nova lege an easier hope of dispensation under the Gospel in case upon necessity we meddle with prohibited labours than possibly could have been gotten under the Law The like Tostatus tells us though in different words save that he doth extend the prohibiton as well to all the Feasts of the Old Testament as all the Holy days of the New and neither to the Sabbath nor the Lords day only In veteri lege major fuit strictio in observatione festorum In Exod 20. qu. 13. quam in nova lege How so In omnibus enim festivitatibus nostris quantaecunque sint c. Because saith he in all our Festivals how great soever whether they be the Lords days or the feasts of Easter or any of the higher rank it is permitted to dress meat and to kindle fire c. As for the grounds whereon they stood he makes this difference between them that the Jews Sabbath had its warrant from Divine commandment but that the Lords day though it came in the place thereof is founded only on Ecclesiastical constitution Colebatur Sabbatum ex mandato Dei cujus loco successit dies dominica In Matth 23. qu. 148. tamen manifestum est quod observatio diei dominicae non est de jure divino sed de jure humano Canonico This is plain enough and this he proves because the Church hath still a power mutare illum diem vel totaliter tollere either to change the day or take it utterly away and to dispense touching the keeping of the same which possibly it neither could nor ought to do were the Lords day of any other institution than the Churches only They only have the power to repeal a Law which had power to make it Qui habet institutionem habet destitutionem as is the Bishops plea in a Quare Impedit As for the first of these two powers that by the Church the day may be transferred and abrogated Suarez hath thus distinguished in it verum id esse absolute non practice that is as I conceive his meaning that such a power is absolutely in the Church though not convenient now to be put in practice According unto that of St. Paul which probably was the ground of the distinction All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient This is
the excellency of Divine Grace so the Second being that maintained by the Franciscans was plausible and populare and cherished humane presumption c. The whole passage we have had before in the Second Chapter Numb 4. but we shall answer to no more of it than the former Clause Concerning which it may be said that though Father Paul the Author of the History hath filled the Christian World with admiration yet it is obvious to the eye of any discerning Reader that in many places he savoureth not so much of the Historian as he doth of the Party and that being carryed by the Interest of his Native Countrey which was the Signory of Venice he seldom speaks favourably of the Jesuits and their adherents amongst which the Franciscans in these points are to be accounted Secondly that either Father Paul did mistake himself or else that his Translator hath mistaken his meaning in making the Second Opinion to be more pleasing to the Preaching Fryers than the understanding Divines the name of Preaching Fryers being so appropriated in common speech to those of the Dominican Order that it is never applyed unto any other And Thirdly That the Authority of Father Paul is no otherwise to be embraced in Doctrinal matters what credit soever may be given to him in point of History than as it is seconded by Reason And certainly if we proceed by the rule of Reason that Doctrine must needs more cherish humane presumption which puffeth men up with the certainty of their Election the infallibility of assisting and persisting Grace and the impossibility of falling from the attaining of that salvation which they have promised to themselves than that which leaves these points uncertain which puts a man to the continnal necessity of calling on God and working out the way unto his salvation with fear and trembling He that is once possessed with this persuasion that all the sins which he can possibly commit were they as many as have been committed by all mankind since the beginning of the World are not able to frustrate his Election or separate him from the love and favour of Almighty God will be too apt to swell with Pharisaical pride and despise all other men as Heathens and Publicans when such poor Publicans as have their minds humble and relying on God will stand aloof not daring to approach too near the Divine Majesty but crying out with God be merciful unto me a sinner and yet shall be more justified in the sight of God than the others are For this we need produce no proof we find it in the supercilious looks in the haughty carriage of those who are so well assured of their own Election who cannot so disguise themselves as not to undervalue and despise all those who are not of the same party and persuasion with them A race of men whose insolence and pride there is no avoid by a modest submission whose favour there is no obtaining by good turns and benefits Quorum superbiam frustra per modestiam obsequium effugeris as in another case was said by a Noble Britain And finally it is objected but the Objection rather doth concern the men than the Doctrine that the Arminians are a Faction a turbulent seditious Faction so found in the Vnited Provinces from their very first spawning not to be suffered by any Reason of State in a Commonwealth So saith the Author of the pamphlet called the Observator observed and proves it by the wicked conspiracy as he calls it of Barnevelt Obf. Observed p. 46. who suffered most condignly as he tells us upon that account 1619. And afterwards by the damnable and hellish plot of Barnevelts Children and Allies in their designs against the State and the Prince of Orange P. 37. This Information seconded by the Author of the Book called The Justification of the Fathers c. who tells us but from whom he knows not that the States themselves have reported of them that they had created them more trouble than the King of Spain had by all his Wars And both these backt by the Authority of King James who tells us of them in his Declaration against Vorstius That if they were not with speed rooted out no other issue could be expected than the Curse of God infamy throughout all the Reformed Churches and a perpetual rent and destraction in the whole body of the State This is the substance of the Charge So old and common that it was answered long since by Bishop Ridly in Qu. Maries days when the Doctrine of the Protestants was said to be the readiest way to stir up Sedition and trouble the quiet of the Commonwealth wherefore to be repressed in time by force of Laws To which that godly Bishop returns this Answer That Satan doth not cease to practice his old guiles and accustomed subtilties He hath ever this Dart in a readiness to whirl against his adversaries to accuse them of Sedition that he may bring them if he can in danger of the Higher Powers for so hath he by his Ministers always charged the Prophets of God Ahab said unto Elias art thou he that troubleth Israel The false Prophets complained also to their Princes of Jeremy that his words were seditious and not to be suffered Did not the Scribes and Pharisees falsly accuse Christ as a seditious person and one that spake against Caesar Which said and the like instance made in the Preachings of St. Paul Confer between Kidley and Latimer he concludes it thus viz. But how far they were from all sedition their whole Doctrine Life and Conversation doth well declare And this being said in reference to the Charge in general the Answer to each part thereof is not far to seek And first it hath been answered to that part of it which concerns King James that the King was carried in this business not so much by the clear light of his most excellent understanding as by Reason of State the Arminians as they call them were at that time united into a party under the command of John Olden Barnevelt and by him used for the reasons formerly laid down to undermine the power of Maurice then Prince of Orange who had made himself the Head of the Contra-Remonstrants and was to that King a most dear Confederate Which Division in the Belgick Provinces that King considered as a matter of most dangerous consequence and utterly destructive of that peace unity and concord which was to be the greatest preservation of the States Vnited on whose tranquillity and power he placed a great part of the peace and happiness of his own Dominions Upon which reason he exhorts them in the said Declaration To take heed of such infected persons their own Countrey-men being already divided into Factions upon this occasion as he saith which was a matter so opposite to Vnity which was indeed the only prop and safety of their State next under God as of necessity it must by little and little
trust them with a power to meddle with matters of Religion this Convocation being holden the sixth year of his Reign when Gardiner Bânner Day and Tunstall and others of the stiffest Romanists were put out of their places most of the Episcopal Sees and Parochial Churches being filled with men according unto his desires and generally conformable to the Forms of Worship here by Law established Thirdly the Church of England for the first five years of Queen Elizabeth retained these Articles and no other as the publick tendries of the Church in point of Doctrine which certainly she had not done had it been recommended to her by a less Authority than a Convocation lawfully assembled and confirmed And fourthly that it is true that the Records of Convocation during this King and the first years of Queen Mary are very defective and imperfect most of them lost amongst others those of this present year And yet one may conclude as strongly that my Mother died Childless because my Christening is not to be found in the Parish Register as that the Convocation of this year was barren because the Acts and Articles of it were not entred in the Journal Book To salve this sore it is conceived by the Objector that the Bishops and Clergy had passed over their power to some select Divines appointed by the Kings in which sense they may be said to have made these Articles themselves by their delegates to whom they had deputed their Authority the case not being so clear Id. Ib. but that it occasioned a Cavil at the next Convocation the first of Queen Mary when the Papists therein assembled renounced the legality of any such former transactions And unto this it shall be answered That no such defect of legality as was here pretended was charged against the book of Articles it self but only against a Catechism which was bound up with it countenanced by the Kings Letters Patents prefix'd before it approved by many Bishops and learned men and generally voiced to be another of the products of this Convocation And therefore for so much as concerns this Catechism it was replyed by Mr. John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester who had been a member in the former and was now a member of the Convocation in the first of Queen Mary That he thought they were deceived in the Title of it Acts and Monum fo 1282. in that it owned the Title of the last Synod of London many which were then present not being made privy to the making or publishing of it He added That the said former Convocation had granted the Authority of making excellent Laws unto certain persons to be appointed by the Kings Majesty so as whatsoever Ecclesiastical Laws they or the most part of them did set forth according to a Statute in that behalf provided might be well said to be done in the Synod of London though such as were of the house had no notice thereof before the promulgation And thereupon he did infer That the setters forth of the Catechism did not slander the House as they went about to persuade the World since they had the Authority of the Synod unto them committed to make such Spiritual Laws as they thought convenient and necessary for the good of the Church In which Discourse we may observe that there was not one word which reflects on the Book of Articles all of it being made in reference to the Catechism before remembred though if the Objection had been made as indeed it was not against the Articles themselves the defence of that learned man and godly Martyr would have served as fully for the one as it did for the other But whatsoever may be said in derogation to the Authority of the Book of Articles as it was published in the time of King Edward the sixth Anno Dom. 1552. certain I am that nothing can be said unto ââe contrary but that they were received and the far greater part of them agreed upon in full Convocation Anno 1562. And therefore for avoiding of all Disputes I am resolved to take them in this last capacity as they were ratified by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1563. confirmed by King James An. 1604. and finally established by the late King Charles with his Majesties Royal Declaration prefixt before them Anno 1628. Less doubt there is concerning the intent of this Convocation in drawing up the Articles in so loose a manner that men of different judgments might accommodate them to their own Opinions which I find both observed and commended in them by the former Author by whom we are informed that the Articles of the English Protestant Church Chur. Hist lib. 9. fol. 72. in the infancy thereof were drawn up in general terms foreseeing that posterity would grow up to fill the same meaning that these holy men did prudently discover that differences in judgment would unavoidably happen in the Church and were loth to unchurch any and drive them off from any Ecclesiastical communion for petty differences which made them pen the Articles in comprehensive words to take in all who differing in the branches meet in the root of the same Religion This hath been formerly observed to have been the artifice of those who had the managing of the Council of Trent and is affirmed to have been used by such men also as had the drawing up of the Canons at the Synod of Dort But the Composers of the Articles of the Church of England had not so little in them of the Dove or so much of the Serpent as to make the Articles of the Church like an upright shoe which may be worn on either foot or like to Theramenes shoe as the Adage hath it fit for the foot of every man that was pleased to wear it and therefore we may say of our first Reformers in reference to the present Book of Articles as was affirmed of them by Dr. Brancroft then Bishop of London in relation to the Rubrick in private Baptism that is to say that those reverend and learned men intended not to deceive any by ambiguous terms for which see Conf. at Hampton Court Confer p. 15. And to this supposition or imagination it is also answered That the first Reformers did not so compose the Articles as to leave any liberty to diffenting judgments as the said Author would fain have it in some words preceding but did not bind men to the literal and Grammatical sense they had not otherwise attained to the end they aimed at which was ad tollendam Opiniorum Dissentionem consensum in vera Religione firmandum that is to say to take away diversity of Opinions and to establish an agreement in the true Religion Which end could never be effected if men were left unto the liberty of dissenting or might have leave to put their own sense upon the Articles as they list themselves For where there is a purpose of permitting men to their own Opinions there is no need of definitions and
University For if it had been so appointed by the University he would have been rewarded for it by the same power and authority which had so appointed when he appeared a Candidate for the Professorship on the death of Whitacres but could not find a party of sufficient power to carry it for him of which see also Chap. 21. Numb 4. And thirdly as for the not Priting of the Sermon it is easily answered the genius of the time not carrying men so generally to the Printing of Sermons as it hath done since But it was Printed at the last though long first And being Printed at the last hath met with none so forward in the Confutation as Mr. Wotton is affirmed to be when at first it was Preached And therefore notwithstanding these three surmises which the Author of the Perpetuity c. hath presented to us it may be said for certain as before it was that Mr. Harsnet was never called in question for that Sermon of his by any having Authority to convent him for it and much less that he ever made any such Recantation as by the said Author is suggested In the next place we will behold a passage in one of the Lectures upon Jonah delivered at York Anno 1594. by the right learned Dr. John King discended from a Brother of Robert King the first Bishop of Oxon afterwards made Dean of Christ Church and from thence presented by the power and favour of Archbishop Bancroft to the See of London A Prelate of too known a zeal to the Church of England to be accused of Popery or any other Heterodoxies in Religion of what sort soever who in his Lecture on these words Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown cap. 3. verse 4. discoursed on them in this manner The only matter of Question herein Bishop King's Lecture upon Jonath Lect. 33. p. 450. is how it may stand with the constancy and truth of eternal God to pronounce a Judgment against a place which taketh not effect within one hundred years For either he weas ignorant of his own time which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God or his mind was altered which is unproble to suspect Numb 23. Heb. 13. Rev. 1. For is the strength of Israel a man that he should lie or as the Son of man that be should repent Is he not yesterday and to day and the same for ever that was that is and that which is to come I mean not only in substance but in Will and Intention Doth he use lightness Are the words that he speaketh yea and nay Doth he both affirm and deny too 2 Cor. 1. Are not all his Promises are not all his Threatnings are not all his Mercies are not all his Judgments are not all his Words are not all the titles and jots of his words yea and amen so firmly ratified that they cannot be broken Doubtless it shall stand immutable When the Heaven and the Earth shall be changed Mal. 3. and wax old like a garment Ego Deus non mutor I am God that am not changed Aliud mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem Aquin 1. qu. 19. art 7. The School in this respect hath a wise distinction It is one thing to change the will and another to will a change or to be willed that a change should be God will have the Law and Ceremony at one time Gospel without Ceremony at another this was his Will from Everlasting constant and unmoveable that in their several courses both should be Though there be a change in the matter and subject there is not a change in him that disposeth it Our Will is in Winter to use the fire in Summer a cold and an open air the thing is changed according to the season but our Will whereby we all decreed and determined in our selves so to do remain the same Sometimes the Decrees and purposes of God consist of two parts the one whereof God revealeth at the first and the other he concealeth a while and keepeth in his own knowledge as in the action enjoyned to Abraham the purpose of God was twofold 1. To try his Obedience 2. To save the Child A man may impute it inconstancy to bid and unbid Mutat seo tentiam non mutat consilium lib. 10. mor. cap. 23. but that the Will of the Lord was not plenarily understood in the first part This is it which Gregory expresseth in apt terms God changeth his intent pronounced sometimes but never his Counsel intended Sometimes things are decreed and spoken of according to inferiour cause which by the highest and over-ruling cause are otherwise disposed of One might have said and said truly both ways Lazarus shall rise again and Lazarus shall not rise again if we esteem it by the power and finger of God it shall be but if we leave it to nature and to the arm of flesh it shall never be The Prophet Esay told Hezekias the King put thy house in order Esa 38. for thou shalt die considering the weakness of his body and the extremity of his disease he had reason to warrant the same but if he told him contrariwise according to that which came to pass thou shalt not die looking to the might and merecy of God who received the prayers of the King he had said as truly But the best definition is that in most of these threatning there is a condition annexed unto them either exprest or understood which is as the hinges to the door Jer. 18. and turneth forward and backward the whole matter In Jeremy it is exprest I will speak suddenly against a Nation or a Kingdom to pluck it up to root it out and to destroy it But if this Nation Jer. 18. against whom I have pronounced turn from their wickedness I will repent of the plague which I thought to bring upon them So likewise for his mercy I will speak suddenly concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build it and to plant it but if yet do evil in my sight and hear not my voice I will repent of the good I thought to do for them Gen. 20. it is exprest where God telleth Abimeleck with-holding Abrahams Wife Thou art a dead man because of the Woman which thou hast taken the event fell out otherwise and Abimeleck purged himself with God With an upright mind and innocent hands have I done this There is no question but God inclosed a condition with his speech Thou art a dead man if thou restore not the Woman withoput touching her body and dishonouring her Husband Thus we may answer the scruple by all these ways 1. Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and yet forty and forty days and Nineveh shall not be overthrown Wy Because Nineveh is changed and the unchangable will of God ever was that if Nineveh shewed a change it should be spared 2. There were two parts of Gods purpose the one disclosed
Princes of the line of Cecrops now it began to be Elective Tacit. hist l. 1. and to be given to them who best pleased the people Et loco libertatis erat quod eligi coeperunt and it was some degree of liberty and a great one too that they had power to nominate and elect their Princes But long they did not like of this although no doubt a great intrusion on the Regal dignity The Princes were too absolute when they held for life not so observant of the people as it was expected because not liable to accompt nor to be called unto a reckoning till it was too late till death had freed them from their faults and the peoples censure And therefore having tried the Government of thirteen of these perpetual Archontes of which Medon the son of Codrus was the first and the last Alemaeon In decem annos Magistratuum consuetudo conversa est they introduced another custom Euseb in Chr. Asrican apud Euseb Chronâ and every tenth year changed their Governors These they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Decennial Archontes of which they had but seven in all and then gave them over and from that time were governed by nine Officers or Magistrates chosen every year who for that cause were called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Annual Magistrates And yet it is to be observed that in both these changes the Archon whosoever he was and whether he was for term of life or for ten years only had all the power which formerly was belonging to the Kings save the very name in which regard Eusebius doth not stick to call them by the name of Kings where speaking of the institution of these Annual Magistrates he doth thus express is Euseb Chron. Athenis Annui principes constituti sunt cessantibus Regibus as S. Hierom renders it Now for these Annual Magistrates they were these that follow that is to say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jul. P. ãâã in Onomast l. 8. c. 9. which we may call the Provost who ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was called the Archon the Bishop or High Priest the Marshal and the six Chief Justices Of these the Provost was the chief ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of whom they did denominate the ensuing year and by whose name they dated all their private Contracts and Acts of State Id ibid. Sect. 2. To him it appertained to have a care of celebrating the Orgies of Bacchus and the great Festival which they termed Thargelia consecrated to Apollo and Diana as also to take cognizance of misdemeanors and in particular to punish those who were common Drunkards and to determine in all cases which concerned matter of inheritance and furthermore to nominate Arbitrators for the ending of Suits and private differences to appoint Guardians unto Orphans and Overseers unto Women left with child by their Husbands The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whom we call the Bishop or High Priest had the charge of all the sacred mysteries ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. ibid. Sect. 3. and the administration of the usual and accustomed Sacrifices together with the cognizance of sacriledg prophaneness and all other actions which concerned Religion as also power to interdict litigious persons or Common Barretters as we call them from being present at the celebration of the holy Mysteries And he retained the name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because that anciently their Kings as in all places else had the chief hand in matters which related to the publick service of the Gods and the solemn Sacrifices On the which reason and no other the Romans had their Regem Sacrificulum whom Plutarch calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in imitation of the Latine but Dionysius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch in Problemat Dionys Halicarnas hist l. 5. Livie hist Roman lib. 2. in the true Greek phrase of which Livie thus Rerum deinde divinarum habita cura quia quaedam publica sacra per ipsos Reges factitata erant necubi Regum desiderium esset Regem Sacrificulum creant But to proceed the Polemarchus whom we English by the name of Marshal sat Judg in cases of sedition and such whereby the grandeur of the State might suffer detriment as also in all actions which concerned either Denizens or Merchant-strangers and unto him it appertained to sacrifice to Diana and to Mars the two military Deities Jul. Pollux in Onomast l. 8. c. 93. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and to prescribe the funeral pomp for such as lost their lives in their Countreys service Each of these had their two Assessors Id. ibid. Sect. of their own Election but so that they were bound to chuse them out of the Senate of five hundred from no lower rank Finally for the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who we call Chief Justices they were six in number ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Suidas in Lex and had authority to give Judgment absolutely in all Civil pleas to judg of strangers which abused the priviledges which they had in the City of Bribery Conspiracies false inscriptions in cases of Adultery and publick crimes in points of Trade Jul. Pollux in Onomast ll 4. c. 9. sect 1. and actions which concerned the Stannaries as also to review the sentence of the Provost and the decrees of the Senate if occasion were and to give notice to the people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Julius Pollux if any man preferred a Law which was not profitable and expedient for the Common-wealth Such were the Officers and such the duty of those Officers ordained at Athens upon the last alteration of the Government which before we spake of and amongst these we find not any popular Magistrate who was to have a care of the common people and to preserve them in their rights and liberties from the oppression of the greater and more powerful Citizens much less set up of purpose to oppose the Senate And to say truth we must not look for any such amongst the Nine nor in these times in which this alteration of the Government was first established They could not fall immediately from a Regal State to a Democratical but they must take the Aristocratie in the way unto it They had been under Kings at first or such as had the power of Kings although not the name And when they chose these Annual Officers they chose them ex nobilibus urbis out of the Nobles only Euseb Chron. Scaliger in Aâimadveâs as Eusebius hath it which Scaliger is forced to grant to be so at first though out of a desire to confute his Author he would very fain have had it otherwise Whether or no they had such Officers as Calvin dreams of when they had setled their Democratie we shall see anon having first shewn by whom and by what degrees the Government of the State was cast on the peoples shoulders and the form thereof made meerly popular or Democratical For certainly it is most true that never
apud Scotos for the suppressing of Tyrannical Government in which themselves must be Judges which the Ephori enjoyed at Sparta and the Tribunes in the City of Rome For though he durst not go so far in terminis as to advise the instituting of such popular Magistrates as Calvin speaks of in this place yet he comes very near it to a Tantamont For that which Calvin doth ascribe to his popular Magistrates Buchannan gives to the whole body of the people generally to whom he doth allow as much Authority over the persons of their Kings Quod illi in singulos è multitudine habent Id. ibid. as they have over any one of the common people and thinks it both unreasonable and absurd that they should not be called to accompt before the ordinary Judges of their several Kingdoms which must supply the place of these popular Magistrates as often as any of their Subjects shall accuse them of murder or adultery or neglects in Government or whatsoever else they shall charge them with instancing in no fewer than twelve Kings of Sctoland who either were condemned to perpetual Prison or else by voluntary death or exile Justas scelerum poenas fugerunt escaped the punishment which was most justly due unto them as he most impudently saith for their wicked lives If any ask as some justly may what might induced our Author to these different courses to lay so sure a ground-work for obedience in the first part of his Discourse and afterward to build upon it such a superstructure as absolutely pulls up his own foundation the answer is that the man was very much distracted between his reason and his passion his conscience and his private interess Aliudque eupido mens aliud suadet His reason and his conscience told him that every Subject was to yield obedience to the authority and commands of the Sovereign Princes and that if any other Doctrine should be plainly preached it would conduce both to the Scandal and the hinderance of the Reformation And his experience in the World could not chuse but tell him that many of the chief Reformers by their heat and iolence had given too great advantage to the publick Enemy and made the Protestant Religion to be much suspected Nil aliud quaerere captare quam Seditionum opprrtunitatem Calvin in Epistola Dedic ad Franciscum l. 1536. for giving too much ground to seditious courses and publishing some Doctrines which were inconsistent with the rules of Government This made him write so soundly of the Subjects duty even to wicked Princes and the unlawfulness of resisting in the way of Arms though open force and violence were offered to them by ungodly Tyrants and this he doth so well that few do it better Vtinam sic semper errasset CALVINVS as once the learned Cardinal said of him in another case But then his Interess in the cause and quarrel of Geneva who by the help of some such popular Officers as he speaks of here had not long before expelled their Bishop who had also all the jurisdiction of a temporal Prince within the City and the Territory which belonged unto it inclined him to say somewhat which might serve o defend that action and give the like advantage unto other Cities to follow the Example which was laid before them Thuan. Hist sui temp l. The case is briefly touched by Thuanus thus Jus Supremi Domini in Civitatem Genevae Episcopos semper penes se retinuisse donec mutata religione Syndici qui sub Episcopali autoritate libertatem antea tuebantur illus proprium sibi fecere ejectis Episcopis sub imperii patrocinio Rempub. administrabant The Sovereignty saith he or Supream Dominion over the City of Geneva the Bishops stillkept unto themselves till in the alteration of Religion the Syndicks who before preserved the liberty of the people under the Government of the Bishops assumed the same unto themselves and absolutely casting out the Bishops governed it like a Common-wealth under the patronage or protection of the German Emperours In which it is first clear on the Bishops side that they had jus Supremi Dominii the Sovereignty or Supream Dominion of the City And so much is affirmed by Calvin in another place Habebat jus gladii alias civilis jurisdictionis partes Calvin in Epistola ad Sadoletum He had saith he the power of the Sword and other parts of temporal Jurisdiction but as he thinks but foolishly and against all records Magistratui ereptas either by fraud or force extorted from the Civil Magistrate Next it is clear that the Bishops did continue the possession of this Supream Power till Viret and Farellus two zealous Gospellers came to live amongst them who finding that those of Berne in the year 1528. had made an alteration of Religion practised the like upon the City of Goneva Which not being likely to effect with the Bishops leave and as little able to effect against his liking considering the great power and sway which legally and properly was inherent in him they set the Syndicks whom they had wrought upon before to make head against him who by a popular Tumult madehim fly the City which presently they changed to a Common-wealth after the manner of the Free or Imperial Cities In which respect Calvin bestows upon Farellus the Title of libertatis Patrem In Epistola ad Minist Tigurin 1553. the Father of that common Liberty which by his means the people of Geneva at the time enjoyed As for the Syndicks by whose power and countenance they advanced the business they were a kind of popular Officers who had the care of looking to the conservation of the peoples Liberties as Thuanus intimates and were much used in many parts of France and Italy Bodin de Repub lib. 4. c. 4. Id. ibid. as Bodinus tell us Their Office did consist of two special points the one à Magistratibus rationem reposcere to call the ordinary Magistrates to an after-reckoning if they did any thing unworthy of their place and dignity or to the hinderance and disservice of the Common-wealth which had somewhat in it of the Ephori in the State of Sparta the other was prospicere ne tenniores infimae sortis homines à nobilibus uti fit premerentur to have a care that the poor people be not wronged or injured as many times it hapneth by the power of the Nobles which mas the main reason for the institution of the Roman Tribunes In this regard the Civil Laws interpret Syndicus to be the same with defensor Civitatis Calvin in Lexico Jurid verbo Syndicus the Conservator of the liberties of a Town or City as full well they might the Office being made up as it seems it was of that of the Ephori and the Tribunes mixt together Now though this change was made before Calvins coming to Geneva which was not till the year 1535 yet he affirms it of
11. The great Disfranchisement and slavery obtruded on the English Clergy by the depriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament 12. A brief discussion of the Question whether any two of the three Estates conspiring or angreeing together can conclude any thing unto the prejudice of the third BUT first before we fall on the Point it self and search into the Power ascribed by Calvin to the three Estates of every Kingdom we must first see what kind of men they are and of what condition who constitute the said Estates which being first setled and determined we shall the better be inabled to proceed accordingly in the enquiry after that Authority which our Author gives them of regulating the proceedings of the Sovereign Prince and putting a restraint on the exorbitant power of Kings In which we shall presume for granted what our Author gives us viz tres Ordines in singulis Regnis that in each several Kingdom there are three Estates and those three we shall prove to be though our Author is no otherwise to be understood the Clergy the Nobility the Common people which distribution of the Subject into three Estates as 't is very ancient so ws the distribution of them into three neither more nor less founded on good prudential motives and grounds of Polity For as judicious Bodin very well observeth should there be only two Estates and no more than so either upon such differences as might rise between them the one side would be apt to compel the other by force of violence or else aequatis Ordinum suffragiis Bodin de Repub l. 3. cap. ult the ballance being even between them their meetings would be many times dissolved without producing any notable effect to the benefit of the Common-wealth In which respect the counterpoise or addition of a third Estate was exceeding necessary ut alterutri sese adjungens utrumque conciliet that joyning unto either of the other two it might unite them both into one Opinion and advance the service of the publick And on the other side were there more than three opinionum multitudo the difference of Opinions and pretence of interesses would keep them at perpetual distance and hinder them from pitching upon any point in which all their purposes and aims were to be concentred So that the casting of the body of a people into three Estates seems most convenient for the furtherance of the publick service and of those three Estates the Priests or Clergy as we call them since the times of CHRIST have generally been accounted one For though Hippodamus whom Aristotle justly taxeth for defects in Polity ordained his three Estates to be the Souldiery Aristot Politic l. the Handicrafts-man and the Husbandman yet wiser Statists saw no reason that the two last should pass for several Estates or ranks of men being that both might be more fitly comprehended under the name and rank of the common people And therefore the Egyptians did divide the people into these three ranks the Priest which is respondent to the Christian Clergy the Souldier who carrieth most resemblance to the State of Nobles and those which lived by Trades and labours whom by one general name they called Operarii Diodor. Siculus as we now the Commons which course we find to be observed also by the ancient Gauls dividing their whole body into these three Orders the Druides who had the charge of matters which concerned Religion Caesar de Bello Gallico l. 6. the Equites who managed the affairs of War and then the Plebs or common people who were subordinate to the other two and directed by them How this division hath succeeded in the States of Christendom we shall see hereafter In the mean time we may take notice that the Priests of Egypt the Druides of Gaul and those who had the ordering of those services which concerned the gods by whatsoever name or Title they were known and called in other Countreys were not so tied unto the Altars and other ministerial Offices which concerned the gods as not to have some special influence in ordering the affairs of the Common-wealth The Priests of Egypt as we read in Aelian an Author of unquestioned credit possessed the highest seats of Judicature and were the only Judges which that people had Aelian in Varia histor l. 14. c. 34. Synesius Ep. 57. Judices apud Egyptios iidem quondam fuerunt qui sacerdotes as that Author hath it And so much is assured us by Synesius also a Christian Bishop of the East where he resembleth them in this particular to the Priests of Judah The like we find in Agathias of the Priests of Persia men better known in ancient Writers by the name of Magi Agathias in hist Porsic l. 2. of whom he telleth us eorum consilio publica omnia administrari c. that by their counsel and advice the principal affairs of the State were ordered rewards proportioned and conferred upon well-deservers and several punishments inflicted on the Malefactors according to the quality of the misdemeanor and finally that nothing was conceived to be rightly done quod Magnorum sententia non sit confirmatum which had not passed the approbation of these Priests or Magi. If we draw nearer towards the West and look into the Government of the State of Athens we shall find the chief authority thereof to consist in the Senate of 500 and in the famous Court of the Areopagites as was noted in the former Chapter in which the Priests or at the least the principal of that rank or order had both place and suffrage For in that honorary Edict which they made in favour of Hyrcanus we may clearly see that Dionysius the son of Asclepiades was one of the Priests Joseph Judaic Antiqu. l. 14. c. 16. and also one of the Prytanaei or Presidents of the Council as we call them now and that in calculating of the Voices ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Dorotheus the chief Priest had the greatest stroke and pronounced the Edict to be passed And for the Court of Areopagites it consisted as before we told you of such and such alone as formerly had bore the Office of the nine Annual Magistrates whereof the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Rex Sacrorum whom we may English the chief Bishop had the second place Suidas in verbo ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch in Pericle And this appears yet further by a passage in the life of Pericles where we are told of his design for the abasing of the power of the Areopagites ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of which Court he was not any Member as the Author tells us in that he had never born the Office either of the Provost or the King or the Polemarchus or any of the six chief Justices So that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Rex Sacrorum or chief Bishop being of course to be admitted into the Court or Council of the Areopagites when his year was ended it
intermitting their own studies to ingage themselves in the determining of such secular causes as were brought before them for the contentation of the People and the diseharge of their own duty both to God and man And this is that which both S. Ambrose and S. Austin tell us in their several writings viz. that they did undergoe this trouble for no other reason than out of a conformity and obedience to the words and imitation of S. Paul 1 Cor. cap. 6. touching the ending of such suits and differences as did arise amongst the Faithful S. Austin saying Constituisse Apostolum talibus causis Ecclesiasticos cognitores Id. in Psal 110. serm 174. Id. de opere Monach. 29. Amb. Epist 24. and iisdem molestiis eos affixisse Apostolos S. Ambrose that he had undertook the businesses which were brought before him Secundum sacrae formam praeceptionis qua eum Apostolus induebat which did impose such a necessity upon him that he was not able to decline it Both of them do agree in this and Posidonius doth agree with both in the same particular that they were not only warranted but obliged by S. Pauls injunction Posidon in vita August c. 19. to undertake the cognizance of such secular causes as were from time to time committed to their care and trust and that they had not done their duty had they made any scruple of the undertaking But these being only private matters let us next see whether their service was not used in affairs of State and we shall find that Constantine did always take some Bishops with him when he went to War not only for their ghostly counsel in spiritual matters but for advise in matters which concerned the occasion the prosecution of the War which was then in hand Euseb in vita Constant l. 4. c. 54. that Ambrose was twice sent Ambassador from Valentinian the younger to the Tyrant Maximus which he performed to the great contentment of his Prince and the preservation of the Empire whereof he gives us an accompt in an express unto the Emperor that when Firmus had rebelled in Africk Amb. Epist 27. lib. 5. and saw himself too weak to resist the Forces which were raised against him under Theodosius Antistites ritus Christiani pacem oraturos misit he sent the African Prelates his Ambassadors to treat of peace Ammian Marcel hist l. 29. Socrat. Eccles hist l. 7. c. 8. that Marutha Bishop of Mesapotamia was in like nature sent to the Court of Persia in the time of the Emperour Honorius I. as after that Epiphanius Bishop of Ticinum which we now call Pavie employed from the Ligurians to Athalaricus King of the Gothes in Italy from him unto the Court of Burgundy as Cassiodorus and Ennodius do describe at large that James the godly Bishop of Nisibis a frontier Town against the Persians was also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both Governour of the place and Captain of the Souldiers which were there in Garrison Theodoret. hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 30. and did most manfully defend it against all the force and fury of the Persian Armies An. 338. or thereabouts and finally which was an argument of great power and trust that the Bishops in Justinians time were by him appointed to oversee the Civil Magistrates and to give notice to the Emperour if they failed in any thing which did concern the Government of the Estate in their several places Novel 56. in Append. ad Novel 8. of which the very Edicts are still extant in the Book of Novels The Prelates being grown into this esteem for their integrity and wisdom with the Roman Emperours it is no wonder if they were imployed in the greatest Offices of trust and counsel after the Empire was dismembred and shared betwixt such several Princes as grew up in the place of those mighty Monarchs And this they did on so good motives and with such success that in short time the Prelates were not only used for advice and counsel but the inferiour Clergy also were called unto imployments of the highest nature and in conclusion with the Prelates made up the third Estate in most Christian Kingdoms For being that the study of Divinity is diffused and large and that the knowledge of Philosophy and the Art and Histories is but attendant on the same and subservient to it there was no question made at all in the times we speak of but that a Church-man so accomplished might be as useful in the service of the Common-wealth as those who wanted many opportunities to be so versed in Books the best guides to business especially when to those helps in poin of Learning were joyned a suddenness of apprehension a perspicacity of judgment and which swayed most of all integrity of life and conversation These when they met together as they often did in men admitted by the Church unto holy Orders it was not either thought or found and indeed how could it that their admittance into Orders did take off from any of those natural or acquired indowments of which before they were possessed or that it was a disabling to them to make use thereof in any matter of debate or action which concerned the publick And that it hath been so of old in all Christian Kingdoms besides that it is intimated by our Author here we shall clearly see by looking over such particulars as have most influence and power in the affairs of Christendom And first beginning as of right with the German Empire August Thuan. hist lib. 2. Thuanus gives this note in general Imperium in tria omnino membra dividi that that Emire is divided into three Estates over all which the Emperour is the Head or the Supream Prince Of these the first Estate is ex sacro Ordine of the holy Hierarchy composed of the three spiritual Electors together with the residue of the Archbishops and Bishops and many Abbots Priors and other Prelates The second is of the Nobility consisting of the three temporal Electors the Dukes Marquesses Lantgraves Burgraves Earls and Barons of which there is no determinate number the Emperour having power to add daily to them as he sees occasion The third Estate is of the free or Imperial Cities in number 60. or thereabouts who represent themselves at the General Diets by such Commissioners or Deputies as are authorized to that purpose Now for these Diets for by that name they call their Conventus Ordinum or Assembly of the three Estates they are summoned at the will and pleasure of the Emperour only and at such place and time as to him seems meetest Id. ibid. Where being met as all the three Estates must meet either in person or by their Ambassadors they use to treat of Peace and War of raising Subsidies and Taxes to support the State of leagues and confederacies of raising and decrying moneys of making abrogating and expounding laws and of such other points and matters as do pertain unto the
at Toledo by Ferdinand the Catholick 1479. for swearing to the succession of his Son Don John in which the Prelates the Nobility and almost all the Towns and Cities which sent Commissioners to the Assembly are expresly named Id. lib. Thus finally do we find a meeting of the Deputies of the three Estates of Navarre at the Town of Tasalla Anno 1481. for preserving the Kingdom in obedience to King Francis Phoebus being then a Minor under Age and that the Deputies of the Clergy Id. lib. 22. Nobility Provinces and good Towns and Portugal assembled at Tomara Anno 1581. to acknowledg Philip the second for their King and to settle the Government of that Kingdom for the times to come Id. lib. 30. Now let us take a view of the Northern Kingdoms and still we find the people ranked in the self-same manner and their great Councils to consist of the Clergy the Nobility and certain Deputies sent from the Provinces and Cities as in those before In Hungary before that Realm received the Gospel we read of none but Nobiles Plebeii Bonfinius in hist Hungar. Dec. l. 1. Id. ibid. Dec. 2. l. 2. Id. Decad. 2. l. 3. the Nobility and common people who did concur to the Election of their Kings but no sooner was the Faith of Christ admitted and a Clergy instituted but instantly we find a third Estate Episcopos Sacerdotum Collegia Bishops and others of the Clergy superadded to them for the Election of the Kings and the dispatch of other businesses which concerned the publick as it continueth to this day In Danemark we shall find the same if we mark it well For though Poutanus seem to count upon five Estates making the Regal Family to be the first and subdividing the Commons into two whereof the Yeomanry makes one and the Tradesman or Citizen the other Pontan in Doriae descript Id. in histor Rerum Danic l. 7. yet in the body of the History we find only three which are the Bishops the Nobility and Civitatum delegati the Deputies or Commissioners of Towns and Cities Take which of these Accounts you will and reckon either upon Five or on three Estates yet still the Ecclesiastick State or Ordo Ecclesiasticus as himself entituleth it is declared for one and hath been so declared as their stories tell us ever since the first admittance of the Faith amongst them the Bishops together with the Peers and Deputies making up the Comitia or Conventus Ordinum In Poland the chief sway and power of Government next to the King is in the Council of Estate Secundum Regem maxima Augustissima Senatus autoritas Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. as Thuanus hath it And that consisteth of nine Bishops whereof the Archbishops of Guisna and Leopolis make always two of fifteen Palatines for by that name they call the greater sort of the Nobility and of sixty five Chastellans which are the better sort of the Polish Gentry who with the nine great Officers of the Kingdom or which the Clergy are as capable as any other sort or degree of Subjects do compleat that Council The Common people there are in no Authority à procuratione Reipub. omnino summota not having any Vote or suffrage in the great Comitia Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. or general Assemblies of the Kingdom as in other places For Sweden it comes near the Government and Forms of Danemark and hath the same Estates and degrees of people as amongst the Danes that is to say Proceres Nobiles the greater and the less Nobility Episcopi Ecclesiastici the Bishops and inferiour Clergy Civitates universitates the Cities and Towns corporate for so I think he means by universitates as Thuanus mustereth them Id. lib. 131. And in this Realm the Bishops and Clergy enjoy the place and priviledges of the third Estate notwithstanding the alteration of Religion to this very day the Bishops in their own persons and a certain number of the Clergy out of every Sochen a division like our Rural Deanries in the name of the rest have a necessary Vote in all their Parliaments And as for Scotland their Parliament consisted anciently of three Estates as learned Cambden doth inform us that is to say the Lords spiritual as Bishops Abbots Priors the temporal Lords as Dukes Marquesses Earls Vicounts Barons Cambden in descript Scotiae and the Commissioners of the Cities and Burroughs To which were added by King James two Delegates or Commissioners out of every County to make it more conform to the English Parliaments And in some Acts the Prelates are by name declared to be the third Estate as in the Parliament Anno 1597. Anno 1606 c. for which I do refer you to the Book at large And now at last we are come to England where we shall find that from the first reception of the Christian Faith amongst the Saxons the Ecclesiasticks have been called to all publick Councils and their advice required in the weightiest matters touching the safety of the Kingdom No sooner had King Ethelbert received the Gospel but presently we read that as well the Clergy as the Laity were called unto the Common Council which the Saxons sometimes called Mysel Synoth the Great Assembly and sometimes Wittenagemots the Council or Assembly of the Wise men of the Realm Anno 605. Coke on Lit. l. 1.2 sect H. Spelman in Concil p. 126. Ethelbertus Rex in fide roboratus Catholica c. Cantuariae convocavit eommune concilium tam Cleri quam populi c King Ethelbert as my Author hath it being confirmed in the Faith in the year 605. which was but nine years after his conversion together with Bertha his Queen their son Eadbald the most Reverend Archbishop Augustine and all the rest of the Nobility did solemnize the Feast of Christs Nativity in the City of Canterbury and did there cause to be assembled on the ninth of January the Common-council of his Kingdom as well the Clergy as the Lay Subject by whose consent and approbation he caused the Monastery by him built to be dedicated to the honour of Almighty God by the hand of Augustine And though no question other Examples of this kind may be found amongst the Saxon Heptarchs yet being the West Saxon Kingdom did in fine prevail and united all the rest into one Monarchy we shall apply our selves unto that more punctually Where we shall find besides two Charters issued out by Athelston Consilio Wlfelmi Archiepiscopi mei aliorum Episcoporum meorum Ap. eund p. 402 403. by the advice of Wlfelm his Archbishop and his other Bishops that Ina in the year 702. caused the Great Council of his Realm to be assembled consisting ex Episcopis Principibus proceribus c. of Bishops Princes Nobles Earls and of all the Wise men Elders and people of the whole Kingdom and there enacted divers Laws for the weal of his
regni negotiis ac aliis tractari consuetis cum caeteris dicti regni Paribus aliis ibidem jus interessendi habentibus consulere tractare ordinare statuere diffinire ac caetera facere quae Parliamento ibidem imminent facienda In vita Gul. Courtney This put together makes enough abundantly for the proofs de jure and makes the Bishops right to have Vote in Parliament to be undeniable Let us next see whether this right of theirs be not confirmed and countenanced by continual practice and that they have not lost it by discontinuance which is my second kind of proofs those I mean de facto And first beginning with the reign of the Norman Conqueror we find a Parliament assembled in the fifth year of that King wherein are present Episcopi Abbates Comites Primates toties Angliae the Bishops Abbots Earls and the rest of the Baronage of England Matth. Paris in Williglmo 1. In the 9th year of William Rufus an old Author telleth us de regni statu acturus Episcopos Abbates quoscunque Regni proceres in unum praecepti sui sanctione egit that being to consult of the affairs of the Kingdom he called together by his Writ the Bishops Abbots and all the Peers of the Realm Eadmer hist Nov. l. 2. During the reign of Henry the 2d for we will take but one Example out of each Kings reign though each Kings reign would yield us more a Patliament was called at London wherein were many things dispatched as well so Ecclesiastical as secular nature the Bishops and Abbots being present with the other Lords Coacto apud Londoniam magno Episcoporum Procerum Abbatumque Concilio multa ecclesiasticarum secularium rerum ordinata negotia decisa litigia saith the Monk of Malmesbury Malmesb. hist reg Angl. l. 5. And of this Parliament it is I take it that Eadmer speaketh Hist Novel l. 4. p. 91. Proceed we to King Henry the 2d for King Stephens reign was so full of Wars and Tumults that there is very little to be found of Parliaments and there we find the Bishops with the other Peers convened in Parliament for the determination of the points in controversie between Alfonso K. of Castile and Sancho K. of Navarre referred by compremise to that King of England and here determined by K. Henry amongst other things habito cum Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus cum deliberatione consilio as in Roger Hoveden Hoveder Annal pars posterin Hen. 2. Next him comes Richard the first his Son during whose imprisonment by the D. of Austria his Brother John then Earl of Moriton endeavoured by force and cunning in Normandy to set the Crown on his own head which caused Hubert the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to call a Parliament Convocatis coram eo Episcois Comitibus Baronibus regni wherein the Bishops Id in Joh. Earls and Barons did with one consent agree to seiz on his Estate and suppress his power the better to preserve the Kingdom in wealth peace and safety After succeded John and he calls a Parliament wherein were certain Laws made for the defence of his Kingdom Communi assensu Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum Baronum omnium fidelium suorum Angliae by the common Council and assent of the Arch-bishops Bishops Earls Barons and the rest of his Leiges Remember what was said before touching the Writ of Summons in the said Kings time From this time till the last Parliament of King Charles there is no Kings reign of which we have not many though not all the Acts of Parliament still in print amongst us Nor is there any Act of Parliament in the printed Books to the enactig of the which the Bishops approbation and consent is not plainly spectified either in the general Prome set before the Acts or in the body of the Act it self as by the books themselves doth at large appear And to this kind of proof may be further added the form and manner of the Writ by which the Prelates in all times have been called to Parliament being the very same verbatim with that which is directed to the Temporal Barons save that the Spiritual Lords are commanded to attend to the service in fide dilectione the Temporal in fide homagio and of late times in fide legeantia A form or copy of which summons as ancient as King Johns time V. Titles of Hon. pt 2. c. 5. is still preserved upon Record directed nominatim to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and then a scriptum est similiter to the residue of the Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons Then add the Priviledg of Parliament for themselves and their servants during the time of the Sessions the liberty to kill and take one or two of the Kings Deer as they pass by any of his Forests in coming to the Parliament upon his commandment Charta de Foresta cap. Cambden in Britannia their enjoying of the same immunities which are and have been heretofore enjoyed by the Temporaal Barons and tell me if the Bishops did not sit in Parliament by as good a Title and have not sat there longer by some hundreds of years in their Predecessors as or than any of the Temporal Lords do sit or have sat there in their Progenitours and therefore certainly Essential Fundamental parts of the Court of Parliament But against this it is objected first that some Acts have passed in Parliament to which the Prelates did not Vote not could be present in the House when the Bill was passed as in the sentencing to death or mutilation of a guilty person as doth appear both by the Laws and constitutions recognized at Clarendon and the following practice This hath been touched on before and we told you then that this restraint was laid upon them not by the Common Law of England or an Act or Ordinance of the House of Peers by which they were disabled to attend that service It was their own voluntary Act none compelled them to it but only out of a copnformity to some former Canons ad sanctorum Canonum instituta Antiqu. Brit. in Gul. Conrineâ Constitut Othobon fol. 45. as their own words are by which it was not lawful for the Clergy-men to be either Judges or Assessors in causa Sanguinis And yet they took such care to preserve their Interests that they did not only give their Proxies for the representing of their persons but did put up their Protestation with a salvo jure for the preserving of their rights for the time to come jure Paritatis interessendi in dicto Parliamento quaod omnia singula ibi exercenda in omnibus semper salvo Antiqu. Britan. in Gul. Courtney as the manner was Examples of the which are as full and frequent as their withdrawing themselves on the said occasions But then the main Objection is that as some Acts have passed in Parliament absentibus Praelatis when the Bishops
expresly and in terminis to represent the three Estates of the Realm of England did recognize the Queens Majesty to be their true lawful and undoubted Sovereign Liege Lady and Queen This makes it evident that the King was not accounted in the times before for one of the three Estates of Parliament nor can be so accounted the present times For considering that the Lords and Commons do most confessedly make two of the three Estates and that the Clergy in another Act of Parliament of the said Queens time are confessed to be one of the greatest States of the Realm which Statute being still in force Statut. 8. Eliz. cap. 1. doth clearly make the Clergy to be the third either there must be more than three Estates in this Kingdom which is against the Doctrine of the present times or else the King is none of the Estates as indeed he is not which was the matter to be proved But I spend too much time in confuting that which hath so little ground to stand on more than the dangerous consequences which are covered under it For if the King be granted once to be no more than one of the three Estates how can it choose but follow from so sad a principle that he is of no more power and consideration in the time of Parliament than the House of Peers which sometimes hath consisted of three Lords no more or than the House of Commons only which hath many times consisted of no more than eighty or an hundred Gentlemen but of far less consideration to all intents and purposes in the Law whatever than both the Houses joyned together What else can follow hereupon but that the King must be co-ordinate with his two Honses of Parliament and if co-ordinate then to be over-ruled by their joynt concurrence bound to conform unto their Acts and confirm their Ordinances or upon case of inconformity and non-compliance to see them put in execution against his liking and consent to his foul reproach And what at last will be the issue of this dangerous consequence but that the Lords content themselves to come down to the Commons and the King be no otherwise esteemed of than the chief of the Lords the Princeps Senatus if you will or the Duke of Venice at the best no more which if Sir Edward Dering may be credited as I think he may in this particular seems to have been the main design of some of the most popular and powerful Members then sitting with him for which I do refer the Reader to his book of Speeches Which dangerous consequents whether they were observed at first by these who first ventured on the expression or were improvidently looked over I can hardly say Certain I am it gave too manifest an advantage to the Antimonarchical party in this Kingdom and hardned them in their proceeding against their King whom they were taught to look on and esteem no otherwise than as a Joint-tenant of the Sovereignty with the Lords and Commons And if Kings have partners in the Sovereignty they are then no King such being the nature and Law of Monarchy that si divisionem capiat interitum capiat necesse est Laciant Institut Div. l. 1. c. if it be once divided and the authorities thereof imparted it is soon destroyed Such is the dangerous consequence of this new Expression that it seemeth utterly to deprive the Bishops and in them the Clergy of this Land of all future hopes of being restored again to their place in Parliament For being the Parliament can consist but of three Estates if the King fall so low as to pass for one either the Bishops or the Commons or the Temporal Lords must desert their claim the better to make way for this new pretension and in all probability the Commons being grown so potent and the Nobility so numerous and united in bloud and marriages will not quit their interesse and therefore the poor Clergy must be no Estate because less able as the World now goeth with them to maintain their Title I have often read that Constantine did use to call himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Bishop or superintendent of his Bishops Euseb de vita Constant and I have often heard our Lawyers say that the King is the general Ordinary of the Kingdom but never heard nor read till within these few years that ever any King did possess himself of the Bishops place or Vote in Parliament or sat there as the first of the three Estates as anciently the Bishops did to supply their absence By which device whether the Clergy or the King be the greater losers though it be partly seen already future times will shew This Rub removed we next proceed to the examination of that power which by our Author is conferred on the three Estates which we shall find on search and tryal to be very different according to the constitution of the Kingdom in which they are For where the Kings are absolute Monarchs as in England Scotland France and Spain Bod in de Repuô l. 1. c. the three Estates have properly and legally little more Authority than to advise their King as they see occasion to present unto his view their common grievances and to propose such remedies for redress thereof as to them seem meetest to canvass and review such erroneous judgments as formerly have passed in inferiour Courts and finally to consult about and prepare such Laws as are expedient for the publick In other Countreys where the Kings are more conditional and hold their Crowns by compact and agreement between them and their Subjects the reputation and authority of the three Estates is more high and eminent as in Polonia Denmark and some others of the Northern Kingdoms where the Estates lay claim to more than a directive power and think it not enough to advise their King unless they may dispose of the Kingdom also or at least make their King no better than a Royal Slave Thus and no otherwise it is with the German Emperors who are obnoxious to the Laws Thuan. hist sui temp l. 2. and for their Government accomptable to the Estates of the Empire insomuch that if the Princes of the Empire be persuaded in their consciences that he is likely by his mal-administration to destroy the Empire and that he will not hearken to advice and counsel ab Electorum Collegio Caesaria potestate privari potest Anonym Script ap Philip. Paraeum in Append ad Rom. 13. he may be deprived by the Electors and a more fit and able man elected to supply the place And to this purpose in a Constitution made by the Emperor Jodocus about the year 1410. there is a clause that if he or any of his Successors do any thing unto the contrary thereof the Electors and other States of the Empire sine rebellionis vel infidelitatis crimine libertatem babeant Goldast Constit Imperial Tom. 3. p. 424. should be at liberty
Princes and Ecclesiastical Governors yet the Apostle calleth not Princes an humane Creation as though they were not also of Gods Creation for there is no power but of God but that the form of their Creation is in mans appointment All the Genevians generally do so expound it and it concerns them so to do in point of interesse The Bishop of that City was their Sovereign Prince and had jus utriusque gladii as Calvin signified in a Letter to Cardinal Sadolet till he and all his Clergy were expelled the City in a popular Tumult Anno 1528. and a new form of Government established both in Church and State So that having laid the foundation of their Common-wealth in the expulsion of their Prince and the new model of their Discipline in refusing to have any more Bishop they found it best for justifying their proceedings at home and increasing their Partizans abroad to maintain a parity of Ministers in the Church of Christ and to invest the people and their popular Officers with a chief power in the concernments and affairs of State even to the deposing of Kings and disposing of Kingdoms But for this last they find no warrant in the Text which we have before us For first admitting the Translation to be true and genuine as indeed it is not the Roman Emperor and consequently other Kings and Princes may be said to be an humane Ordinance because their power is most visibly conversant circa humanas Actiones about ordering of humane Actions and other civil affairs of men as they were subjects of the Empire and Members of that Body politick whereof that Emperor was head Secondly to make Soveraign Princes by what name and Title soever called to be no other than an humane Ordinance because they are ordained by the people and of their appointment must needs create an irreconcileable difference between St. Peter and St. Paul by which last the Supream Powers whatsoever they be are called the Ordinance of God The Powers saith that Apostle are ordained of God and therefore he that resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God Upon which words Deodate gives this gloss or comment That the Supream Powers are called the Ordinance of God because God is the Author of this Order in the world and all those who attain to these Dignities do so either by his manifest will and approbation when the means are lawful or by his secret Providence by meer permission or toleration when they are unlawful Now it is fitting that man should approve and tolerate that which God approves and tolerates But thirdly I conceive that those words in the Greek Text of St. Peter viz. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are not so properly translated as they might have been and as the same words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are rendred by the same Translators somewhat more near to the Original in another place For in the 8th Chapter to the Romans vers 22. we find them rendring ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the whole Creation and why not rather every Creature as both our old Translation and the Rhemists read it conform to omnis Creatura in the vulgar Latine which had they done and kept themselves more near to the Greek Original in St. Peters Text they either would have rendred it by every humane Creature as the Rhemists do or rather by all Men or by all Man-kind as the words import And then the meaning will be this that the Jews living scattered and disperst in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia and other Provinces of the Empire were to have their conversation so meek and lowly for fear of giving scandal to the Gentiles amongst whom they lived as to submit themselves to all Man-kind or rather to every Man unto every humane Creature as the Rhemists read it that was in Authority above whether it were unto the Emperor himself as their supream Lord or to such Legats Prefects and Procurators as were appointed by him for the govenment of those several Provinces to the end that they may punish the evil-doers and incourage such as did well living conformably to the Laws by which they were governed Small comfort in this Text as in any of the rest before for those popular Officers which Calvin makes the Overseers of the Sovereign Prince and Guardians of the Liberties of the common people If then there be no Text of Scripture no warrant from the Word of God by which the popular Officers which Calvin dreams of are made the Keepers of the Liberties of the common people or vested with the power of opposing Kings and Sovereign Princes as often as they wantonly insult upon the people or willingly infringe their Priviledges I would fain learn how they should come to know that they are vested with such power or trusted with the defence of the Subjects Liberties cujus se Dei oratione Tutores positos esse norunt as Calvin plainly says they do If they pretend to know it by inspiration such inspiration cannot be known to any but themselves alone neither the Prince or People whom it most concerneth can take notice of it Nor can they well assure themselves whether such inspirations come from God of the Devil the Devil many times insnaring proud ambitious and vain-glorious Men by such strange delusions If they pretend to know it by the dictate of their private Spirit the great Diana of Calvin and his followers in expounding Scripture we are but in the same uncertainties as we were before And who can tell whether the private Spirit they pretend unto and do so much brag of 1 Ring 22.22 may not be such a lying Spirit as was put into the mouths of the Prophets when Ahab was to be seduced to his own destruction Adeo Argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus as Lactantius notes it All I have now to add is to shew the difference between Calvin and his followers in the propounding of this Doctrine delivered by Calvin in few words but Magisterially enough and with no other Authority than his ipse dixit enlarged by David Paraeus in his Comment on Rom. 13. into divers branches and many endeavours used by him as by the rest of Calvins followers to find out Arguments and instances out of several Authors to make good the cause For which though Calvin scap'd the fire yet Paraeus could not Ille Crucem pretium sceleris tulit hic Diadema For so it hapned that one Mr. Knight of Brodegates now Pembroke Colledge in Oxford had preach'd up the Authority of these popular Officers in a Sermon before the University about the beginning of the year 1622. for which being presently transmitted to the King and Council he there ingenuously confessed that he had borrowed both his doctrine and his proofs and instances from the Book of Paraeus above mentioned Notice whereof being given to the University the whole Doctrine of Paraeus as to that particular was drawn into several Propositions which in a full and frequent Convocation
the Body of Christ Nay their labour was blessed by God first for the Conversion and then for the Resormation of this Church and Kingdom and therefore I hope there is no sober Protestant in England but will heartily say Amen to that Prayer of Mr. Beza's who although no great Adorer of Episcopacy yet considerdering the Blessings that God brought to this Nation by their Ministry put up this devout Petition Si nunc Anglicanae Ecclesiae instauratae suorum Episcoporum Archiepiscoporum auctoritate suffultae perstant quemadmodum hoc illi nostra memoria contigit ut ejus ordininis homines non tantum insignes Dei martyres sed etiam praestantissimos pastores ac Doctores habuerit fruatur sane istâ singulari Dei beneficentia quae utinam sit illi perpetua Theod. Bez. ad Tract de min. Evang. Grad ab Hadr. Sarav cap. 18. Fruatur Anglia ista singulari Dei Beneficentiâ quae utinam sit illi perpetua Let England enjoy that singular Blessing of God which I pray to God may be perpetual to it There are others that envy them their Honours and Dignities For though the Holy Spirit of God does oblige all Christians to esteem their Bishops very highly or more than abundantly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in love for their work sake 1 Thes 5.12 13. and reason it self dictates that the honours confer'd upon Representatives and Embassadors redound to the Prince that delegates and imploys them though Jews Heathens and Mahomâtans ever paid the profoundest Veneration to their Priests Caliphs and Musti's and our Relig ous Ancestors in the Saxon Danish and Norman times set the highest value upon their Bishops yet the Religion of this Age is to load them with all possible Calumnies and Reproaches and with Corah and his Complices to charge them with taking too much upon them and to disdain to set them with the Dogs of their Flocks The Priests were Judges in Egypt and so were the Magi and Areopagites who were sacred persons in Persia and Athens and it was no other wise with the Druids amongst the Ancient Britains and Gauls For Caesar tells us how their Office extended to things Temporal as well as Religious Sacrificia publica privata procurant religiones interpretantur Druides a bello a besse consueverunt ni que tributa una cum reliquis pendunt St quod admissum est facinus si caedes facta si de haereditate de finibus controversia est iidem decernunt Caesar Com. lib. 6. that they did not only order publick and private Sacrifices and expound Religion and instruct Youth but were free from Contribution and Warfare and all burthens of State and determined all Controversies both publick and private and executed the place both of Priests and Judges for if any offence were committed as Murther or Man-slaughter or any Controversie arose touching Lands or Inheritance they sentenced it rewarding the Vertuous and punishing the Wicked The Patricii the noblest Romans were ambitious to be admitted into the College of the Priests and when the Government became Monarchical the Emperors took upon them the pontifical Dignity thinking it no diminution of them Grandeur to be imployed about the Service of the gods but rather conceiving the Priesthood too noble an imployment to be confer'd upon a Subject But we need no other Testimonies to convince us of the Rights of Church-men for the management of the civil concerns of human Society that the holy Scriptures Amongst the Jews the Civil and Ecclesiastical power were not so distinguished but one and the same person exercised both For not to expatiate upon particular instances Melchisedeck Eli Samuel Ezra Esdras were all Priests and had the power not only of Ecclesiastical but Civil jurisaictior Neither could Samuel have hewed Agag in pieces with his own hand 1 Sam. 15.33 if it had been unlawful for persons dedicated to the sacred Offices of Religion to havè intermeddled in causes of blood Which very instance proves that Clergy-men are not excluded from managing the highest secular concerns by any immutable Laws of God or Nature And if there are any Canons or Councils that forbid them to meddle in things of that kind that so they may the better attend upon the sacred Offices and Exercises of Religion let those be obligatory to the persons unto whom they were delivered but not be pleaded or produced to the prejudice of English Bishops who have distinct Priviledges and Laws For there have been Constitutions that have forbidden Church-men to Marry to make Wills to be Executors of mens Wills and Testaments to be the Wards of Orphans c. And these Constitutions are of as great force to bind the Clergy of England as the Council of Toledo to thrust the Bishops out of the House of Lords in Causes of Attainder and Blood Let the Archbishops of Ments and Colen with other Princes of the Empire look to it if it be unlawful for Ecclesiastical persons to adjudge Criminals to death It will be infinite to shew how St. Ambrose St. Augustin and the Godly Bishops of all Ages had no Supersedeas given them to intermeddle in things civil and secular because of their Wisdom and Knowledge in things Sacred and Divine Certainly the Holy Spirit of God did not conceive it unfit that Worldly matters and Controversies should be committed to Church-men for it is highly reasonable to think that those who are the Pastors of mens Souls will be the best Judges in determining their civil Rights It could not indeed be expected whilst the Empire was Heathen that Bishops should be busied and employed in Secular affairs unless it were in those Controversies which arose among the Christians themselves wherein St. Paul gives direction that they should rather determine their Contentions by a private Arbitrement of their own than by the publick judgments of their Enemies 1 Cor. 6. But when Kings became Christians Soz. lib. 1. c. 9. we find persons making their Appeals from the Tribunals of Princes to the Consistory of Bishops For then Bishops had power to reverse the sentence of death and to stay the hands of Executioners when the poor Criminals were going to receive the reward of their Iniquities just as the Praetors and Consuls of Rome would submit their Fasces those Ensigns of Authority when they did but casually meet with some of the Priests Constantine granted the Bishops this priviledge that condemned Malefactors might appeal unto their Courts and when such appeals were made the Bishops had power as well to deliver them over into the hands of Justice as to extend unto them a Pardon or Reprieve For the priviledge confer'd on them was as well for the punishment and terror of the Wicked as for mitigating the rigour of Justice and encouraging Criminals to Vertue and Repentance Mr. Selden himself who was none of the best Friends to Church-men grants that for four thousand years the Civil and Ecclesiastick jurisdiction went always hand in hand
together Ex hisce simul sanè ex primo secundo libro hoc satis puto constabit per Annos amplius M. M. M. M. tam sacrorum regimen qua forense esset atque à functione facrâ ritè distinctum quam profanorum five res spectes five personas juxta jus etiam divinum ex Ecclesiae Judaicae populorumque Dei anteriorum disciplinâ perpetuâ ad eosdem attinuisse judices seu Magistratus ejusdem Religionis atque ad synedria eadem neutiquam omnino ex juris istius instituto aliquo sacrorum prosanorum instar Ecclesiarum seu Spiritualium laicorum seu teorporalium Nominibus nullatenus discriminata Seld. de syn praefat libr. secundi And so it did till Pope Nicolas made the one independent upon the other So that their disunion is a Popish Innovation for till his time the Judges of Church and State ever sate together affairs Sacred and Religious were scan'd and determined in the morning and those that were Secular and Civil in the afternoon There was not till that time any clashing between Moses and Aaron no prohibitions out of one Court to stop or evacuate the proceedings of another and then it was that Justice run down like a stream and Righteousness like a mighty River If it be said that there are many corruptions among Church-men and especially in Ecclesiastical Courts The answer is That Callings must be distinguish'd from persons or else those two noble professions of Law and Physick will fall under the same condemnation with Divinity No man of any sobriety will condemn either of those professions because there are some Empericks in the World who kill mens Bodies and some Petifoggers that intangle and ruine their Estates And I hope Divines may have some grains of allowance granted them as well as the Inns of Court and Chancery and the College of Physicians if they cannot let that Calling which is most innocent cast the first stone It cannot be hoped that there will in this Age be a Revival of the primitive usage of these two Jurisdictions But yet this ought to be seriously regarded by all who have any belief of a Deity and regard for their native Country I mean that either our English Monarchs might be totally excused from their Coronation-Oath or not be put upon a necessity of violating thereof Their Oath in favour of the Clergy is that they will grant and keep the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward their Predecessor according to the Laws of God Rushw Hist Collect. part 1â pag. 204. the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the Ancient customs of the Realm But how this Oath is observed when the Bishops are infringed in their ancient and indisputable priviledges let it be considered by all persons of sober mind and principles And let it be declared what order of men in the whole Nation the King can rely upon with so much safety and confidence as upon the Bishops and that not only upon the account of their Learning Wisdom Sanctity and Integrity qualifications not every day to be met withal in State-Politicians but upon the score of Gratitude and Interest For 't is from their Prince that they derive their Honours Dignities Titles Revenues Priviledges Power Jurisdictions with all other secular advantages and upon this account there is greater probability that they will be faithful to his Concerns and Interests than those who receive nothing from him but the common advantages of Government But this argument is known too well by our Anti-Episcopal Democraticks And perhaps 't is the chief if not the only reason of their enmity against an Order of men of so sacred and venerable an Institution As for this little Treatise the Author of it is too well known unto this Nation to invite any Scholar to peruse it It was written when the Bishops were Voted by the House of Lords not to be of the Committee in the Examination of the Earl of Strafford For then it was that Dr. Heylyn considered the case and put these few Sheets as a MSS. into the hands of several of the Bishops that they might be the better enabled to assert and vindicate their own Rights It was only intended for private use and therefore the Reader is not to expect so punctual an accuracy as he may find in other Treatises of this Learned Author It has been perused by some persons of good Eminency for judgment and station in the Church of England and by them approved and commended All that is wished by the Publisher is that it may produce the effects which he proposes to himself in exposing it to publick view and that those Lords who are now Prisoners in the Tower and from whose tryal some have laboured to exclude the Bishops were able to give unto the World as convincing Evidence of their Innocency as that great and generous States man did who fell a Sacrifice to a prevailing Faction and whose Innocent Blood was so far from being a lustration to the Court as some thought it would have proved as it drew after it such a deluge of Gore as for many preceding years had never been spilt in this Kingdom But 't is not my design or desire to revive any of the Injustice or Inhumanities of the last Age. Suffice it to say that it was for this Apostolical Government of Bishops that King Charles the First lost his Kingdoms his Crown his Life And the exclusion of Bishops from Voting in causes of blood was the prologue to all those Tragical mischiefs that happened to that Religion and Renowned Prince And those who have the least veneration for his present Majesty cannot certainly conceive him a King of such slender and weak abilities as to permit Himself and Family to be ruined by those very methods with which his Father was before him De jure Paritatis Episcoporum OR The Right of Peerage vindicated to the BISHOPS OF ENGLAND SINCE the restoring of the Bishops to their place and Vote in the House of Peers I find a difference to be raised between a Peer of the Realm and a Lord of the Parliament and then this Inference or Insinuation to be built upon it that though the Bishops are admitted to be Lords of Parliament yet they are not to be reckoned amongst the Peers of the Realm the contrary whereof I shall endeavour to make good in this following Essay and that not only from the Testimony of approved Writers but from unquestioned Records Book-Cases Acts of Parliament and such further Arguments as may be able to evince the point which we have in hand But first perhaps it may be said that there is no such difference in truth and verity betwixt a Lord of Parliament and a Peer of the Realm but that we may conclude the the Bishops to be Peers of the Realm if they be once admitted to
Realm and in respect thereof of the House of Commons in Parliament Next to the Parliament the most renowned Judicatory of this Land is the Great Council of the Peers called by the King on sudden and emergent occasions which cannot safely stay the leisure of a Parliament for the prescribing of such remedies as the case requires and called so for no other reason but that it is a general meeting of the Bishops and Temporal Lords under the common name of Peers to give the King such Counsel and advice in his greatest difficulties as the exigencies of affairs shall suggest unto them which proves the Bishops to be Peers as well as any of the Temporal Lords Nor could it properly be called the Great Council of Peers if any but the Peers be invited to it The last example of which Council was that held at York about the latter end of September Anno 1640. upon the breaking in of the Scottish Rebels And the like Argument may be drawn from that Appellation which commonly is given to that place or Room wherein the Lords Spiritual and Temporal do consult together in the times of Parliament best known unto us by the name of the House of Peers and known unto us by that name for no other Reason but because it is appropriated to the use of the Peers that is to say the Nobles Spiritual and Temporal or the Bishops and the Temporal Lords for their Consultations And as they have the name of Peers and the Rights of Peerage so is there none of all the Antient Rights of Peerage which belong not to them as fully and as amply as to any of the Temporal Lords that is to say a necessary place and Vote in Parliament and a particular Writ of Summons to invite them to it the freedom of their persons from Arrests at the suit of a Subject not to be troubled with Essoynes or supplicavits in the Courts of Justice a power to qualifie their Chaplains to hold several Benefices not to have any Action against them tried except one Knight at the least be returned of the Pannel the Liberty of killing one or more of the Kings Deer in any of his Parks or Chases both in their going to the Parliament and returning home of which take this in General from our Learned Antiquary Cambden Brit. fol. 123. Inde Ecclesiastici illi omnibus quibus caeteri Regni Barones gavisi sunt immunitatibus nisi quod à Paribus non judicentur that is to say that they enjoy all priviledges and Immunities as the Lay Lords do but that they are not to be Judged by their Peers But first he is not certain that this exception their not being to be Judged by their Peers will hold good in Law and therefore leaves the resolution of that point to our Learned Lawyers sed an hoc sit Juris explorati dixerint ipsi Juris periti as his own words are And secondly the reason which he gives is no more than this that since by reason of the Canons they could not be Judges or Assessors in causa sanguinis they therefore were referred to a Common Jury of twelve Men in all publick Trials but by this reason they must either have no Trial at all or may as well be tried by their Peers as a Common Jury because they are disabled by those Canons from sitting in Judgment on the life of a Common Juror as well as of a Lord or Peer which I marvail Cambden did not see But weaker is the Reason which is given by Stamford in his Pleas of the Crown that is to say that Bishops are not to be tried by their Peers because they do not hold their place in Parliament Ratione Nobilitatis sed ratione officii and yet not only in regard of their Office eien en respect de lour possessions l'antient Baronyes annexes a lour dignitye but in regard of their possessions and those ancient Baronies which are annexed to their Sees which reason in my Judgment hath no reason at all for then the old Barons which were called to Parliament in regard of their Tenure as they were all until the time of King Richard the 2d could have no Trial by their Peers because they had no place in Parliament but in respect of their possessions or temporal Baronies and secondly the Bishops as before was proved are accounted Nobles and thereupon may challenge their place in Parliament not only ratione officii as anciently before the times of William the Conqueror but also ratione Nobilitatis since they were ranked amongst the Barons in regard of their Tenure Others perhaps may give this reason that Bishops in the former times were debarred from Marriage and that now holding their Estates and Honours only for term of life they are not capable of transmitting either unto their posterity which possibly may make the Laws less tender of them than they might be otherwise but then what shall we say of the Wives and Widows of the Temporal Lords who being either barren or past hope of Children shall notwithstanding be tried by their Peers according to the Statute of Henry the sixth Or put the case that any man should be created Earl or Baron for the time of his life or with a limitation to the Heirs of his body and either live unmarried or continue childless must he be therefore made incapable of a Trial by the Peers of the Realm because his Honours and his Life do expire together I think no reasonable man can say it and I hope none will It cannot be denied but that some Bishops have been tried by Common Juries that is to say Adam de Orlton Bishop of Hereford Thomas Lyld Bishop of Ely Thomas Merkes Bishop of Carslile John Fisher Bishop of Rochester and Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury but then it is to be observed that none but Fisher suffered death on that account whether by reason of some illegality in their proceedings or in reference to their High and holy Callings it is hard to say And secondly we may observe that though in some confusions and disorder of times such Presidents may be produced as in matter of Fact yet the Case is not altogether so clear in point of Law as not to leave the matter doubtful as we heard before and that it was conceived by some Learned men of that profession that if those Bishops had desired to be tryed by their Peers it could not have been denied them in a course of Justice And therefore thirdly we observe that the Bishops of Hereford and Ely did trust so much to their dependance on the Pope and their exemption from the power of all secular Judges that they refused absolutely to be tryed by any but the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Popes Legate in this Kingdom which possibly might put their Enemies upon a course of enquiring into their offences by a Common Jury the parties being wilfully absent and not submitting to a Trial in due course of Law
the custom of the Alexandrian and Western Churches Page 292 5. Origen ordained Presbyter by the Bishops of Hierusalem and Caesarea and excommunicated by the Bishop of Alexandria Page 293 6. What doth occur touching the superiority and power of Bishops in the Works of Origen ibid. 7. The custom of the Church of Alexandria altered in the election of their Bishops Page 294 8. Of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria and his great care and travels for the Churches peac Page 295 9. The Government of the Church in the former times by Letters of intercourse and correspondence amongst the Bishops of the same ibid. 10. The same continued also in the present Century Page 296 11. The speedy course taken by the Prelats of the Church for the suppressing of the Heresies of Samosatenus Page 297 12. The Civil Jurisdiction Train and Throne of Bishops things not unusual in this Age Page 298 13. The Bishops of Italy and Rome made Judges in a point of title and possession by the Roman Emperour Page 299 14. The Bishops of Italy and Rome why reckoned as distinct in that Delegation Page 300 CHAP. VI. Of the estate wherein Episcopacy stood in the Western Churches during the whole third Century 1. Of Zepherinus Pope of Rome and the Decrees ascribed unto him concerning Bishops Page 301 2. Of the condition of that Church when Cornelius was chosen Bishop thereof Page 302 3. The Schism raised in Rome by Novatianus with the proceedings of the Church therein Page 303 4. Considerable observations on the former story Page 304 5. Parishes set forth in Country Villages by P. Dionysius ibid. 6. What the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do signifie most properly in ancient Writers Page 305 7. The great Authority which did accrue unto the Presbyters by the setting forth of Parishes Page 306 8. The rite of Confirmation reserved by Bishops to themselves as their own Prerogative Page 307 9. Touching the ancient Chorepiscopi and the Authority to them entrusted Page 308 10. The rising of the Manichean Heresie with the great care taken by the Bishops for the crushing of it Page 309 11. The lapse of Marcellinus Pope of Rome with the proceedings the Church in his condemnation Page 310 12. The Council of Eliberis in Spain what it decreed in honour of Episcopacy Page 311 13. Constantine comes unto the Empire with a brief prospect of the great honours done to Bishops in the following Age Page 312 14. A brief Chronology of the estate of holy Church in these two last Centuries Page 314 The History of the Sabbath BOOK I. From the Creation of the World to the destruction of the Temple CHAP. I. That the Sabbath was not instituted in the Beginning of the World 1. THE entrance to the Work in hand Page 325 2. That those words Gen. 2. And God blessed the seventh day c. are there delivered as by way of anticipation Page 326 3. Anticipations in the Scripture confessed by them who deny it here Page 327 4. Anticipations of the same nature not strange in Scripture Page 328 5. No Law imposed by God on Adam touching the keeping of the Sabbath Page 329 6. The Sabbath not ingraft by Nature in the soul of man ibid. 7. The greatest Advocates for the Sabbath deny it to be any part of the Law of Nature Page 330 8. Of the morality and perfection supposed to be in the number of seven by some learned men Page 331 9. That other numbers in the confession of the same learned men particularly the first third and fourth are both as moral and as perfect as the seventh ibid. 10. The like is proved of the sixth eighth and tenth and of other numbers Page 332 11. The Scripture not more favourable to the number of seven than it is to others Page 333 12. Great caution to be used by those who love to recreate themselves in the mysteries of numbers Page 334 CHAP. II. That there was no Sabbath kept from the Creation to the Flood 1. Gods rest upon the Seventh day and from what he rested Page 335 2. Zanchius conceit touching the Sanctifying of the first Seventh day by Christ our Saviour Page 336 3. The like of Torniellus touching the Sanctifying of the same by the Angels in Heaven ibid. 4. A general demonstration that the Fathers before the Law did not keep the Sabbath Page 337 5. Of Adam that he kept not the Sabbath ibid. 6. That Abel and Seth did not keep the Sabbath Page 333 7. Of Enos that he kept not the Sabbath Page 339 8. That Enoch and Methusalem did not keep the Sabbath ibid. 9. Of Noah that he kept not the Sabbath Page 340 10. The Sacrifices and devotions of the Ancients were occasional ibid. CHAP. III. That the Sabbath was not kept from the Flood to Moses 1. The Sons of Noah did not keep the Sabbath Page 341 2. The Sabbath could not have been kept in the dispersion of Noahs Sons had it not been commanded Page 342 3. Diversity of Longitudes and Latitudes must of necessity make a variation in the Sabbath Page 343 4. Melchisedech Heber Lot did not keep the Sabbath Page 344 5. Of Abraham and his Sons that they kept not the Sabbath ibid. 6. That Abraham did not keep the Sabbath in the confession of the Jews Page 345 7. Jacob nor Job no Sabbath-keepers ibid. 8. That neither Joseph Moses nor the Israelites in Egypt did observe the Sabbath Page 346 9. The Israelites not permitted to offer Sacrifice while they were in Egypt ibid. 10. Particular proofs that all the Moral Law was both known and kept amongst the Fathers Page 347 CHAP. IV. The nature of the fourth Commandment and that the Sabbath was not kept among the Gentiles 1. The Sabbath first made known in the fall of Mannah Page 348 2. The giving of the Decalogue and how far it bindeth Page 349 3. That in the judgment of the Fathers in the Christian Church the fourth Commandment is of a different nature from the other nine Page 350 4. The Sabbath was first given for a Law by Moses Page 351 5. And being given was proper only to the Jews Page 352 6. What moved the Lord to give the Israelites a Sabbath ibid. 7. Why the seventh day was rather chosen for the Sabbath than any other Page 353 8. The seventh day not more honoured by the Gentiles than the eighth or ninth Page 354 9. The Attributes given by some Greek Poets to the seventh day no argument that they kept the the Sabbath Page 355 10. The Jews derided for their Sabbath by the Grecians Romans and Egyptians Page 356 11. The division of the year into weeks not generally used of old amongst the Gentiles Page 357 CHAP. V. The practice of the Jews in such observances as were annexed unto the Sabbath 1. Of some particular adjuncts affixed unto the Jewish Sabbath Page 358 2. The Annual Festivals called Sabbaths in the Book of God and reckoned as a