to be supream Magistrates and Judges under and with the King in the House of Lords and to have jurisdiction and lordship proper to Magistrates and supream coercive Judges and to the Nobility Peers and Princes in Parliament this I hold to be extra episcopal to be a swerving from the simplicity that is in Christ and an undue prelation of Pastors above Pastors and a deformity added to the beauty and lustre of simple Episcopacy and it is a cause of more evil than good and upon a just computation of all both conveniences and inconveniences it will be found a truth that Church and State have been both losers that Bishops and Arch-bishops themselves who have had such external honours preeminences and authorities have been losers in their Souls by them and that it had been better for all sides that they had kept in the station and quality of simple Bishops and Divines 36. The Arch-bishops and Bishops with us have three Ordinations first they are ordained Presbyters then they are ordained Bishops then they are ordained Arch-bishops Now these two last Ordinations are rather nullities and corruptions and do suppose that there is a majority and superiority of power in Bishops over Presbyters and in Arch-bishops over Bishops and the next step must be in the Pope over all For to be a Bishop and Shepherd over all the Souls and Shepherds which be in England is a vice of the very same kind with that of the Popes who says he is Christs Vicar upon Earth and Bishop over all the Bishops and Souls which be in the world which is to claim and usurp the office of Jesus Christ and to attempt the doing of that which is absolutely impossible It is indeed more impossible for one man to be Bishop and Pastor over all the Souls and Bishops which be in the world than it is for one man to be Bishop and Pastor over all the Souls and Pastors which be in England Both be alike simply impossible though the one is more impossible than the other And they do both savour of proud self ignorance and gross affectation and self-seeking as though one man could be in a thousand places at once Baptizing Preaching giving the Lords-supper visiting the sick instructing souls and doing all other the acts and offices of a Scripture-Bishop and Spiritual Overseer of Souls Act. 20.28 To the creating of a Bishop or Arch bishop there needs no more but an election and nomination of him to the place as is done by the House of Commons when they chuse a Speaker His office is no more but to be as the Foreman of the Quest If he have not wisdom holiness and Ministerial worth and usefulness answerable to his name he is but an Arch-bishop in name he is rather a post or cypher than a man 37. Also our Prelates do take upon them to be Ecclesiastical Legislators and Canon-makers to all the Churches and to all other Pastors and they constitute them a Lay-Chancellour and require of all the Clergy an Oath or solemn promise of Canonical obedience to them and their Chancellors They call their Chancellor their Vicar in spirituals and unto him is committed the power of discipline and jurisdiction ecclesiastical over all both Clergy and Laity and the Church-Canons are his Law and Rule which being too crooked for honest men to conform to he spares not to excommunicate them and upon a significavit made by him into the Chancery out comes an Excommunicato capiendo and the party must either go to Prison all his days without Bail or make his composition much to his shame or damage or both And Excommunications and Absolutions in the Bishops Court are bought and sold for money and the worst men are spared and countenanced while the best men are harassed and anathematized and accursed from Christ and his Kingdom 38. Now the Bishops being conscious to themselves that this kind of prelacy and domination and jurisdiction is not good and equal but rather like the Popes supremacy over all and those whom the Holy Ghost brands Nehem. 5.15 who ruled over Gods people by their Servants as now the Bishops do by their Vicars Substitutes and Chancellors but so did not good Nehemiah because of the fear of God They I say being sensible hereof do get to be Princes and Lords and Statesmen in Parliament and thereby insinuate themselves with the Soveraign and with such of the Nobles and Gentry as love to be flatter'd and smoothly dealt with and by this means establish to themselves and to their Chancellors worldly and carnal jurisdiction and dominate over their Brethren and become the Authors of Sects and Factions and hinder the holiness the unity and concord of the Churches and rather than they shall not be Lord-bishop and partial and factious and busie bodies in Parliament Church and State must suffer and the common quiet be indangered They will not endure to be upon equal ground with their Brethren as wise and good as themselves as the Pope will not abide to be touch'd in his supremacy 39. I shall add this one word of caution Though it be not expedient that Bishops be made Magistrates and Pastors trusted with the Sword yet it is fit that Magistrates be Magistrates and not Cyphers and that they do not bear the Sword in vain and that they do back the power and authority of the Ministry and countenance and uphold the sacred Office by being a terror to evil doers and a praise and defence to them that do well There ought to be a due temperament of Magistracy and Ministry that we might lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty Though the Sword is not Goâ—s Ordinance for the conversion of souls yet it is Gods Ordinance for the punishing of vice and protection of vertue outwardly and for the just encouragement of worthy Pastors and the discouragement of the unworthy Anciently God did lead his people by the hand of Moses and Aaron they both made but one hand And it is a Law of universal equity binding all Christian Commonwealths Judges and magistrates shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes and they shall judg thy people with just judgment Deut. 16.18 And as there ought to be a sufficient Ministry in every Parish so also there ought to be a due proportion and contemperament of coercive Judges and revenging Magistrates in Cities Towns and Parishes that the people might have both Law and Gospel means for their Souls and means for their outward peace and safety nigh at hand It was the custom in England anciently for the Bishop and the Sheriff who was then called Earl of the County and was supream Magistrate under the King in the County to go in Circuit all over the County the one to teach the people Religion and the way of good living and to visit all the Churches and the other to decide civil Causes and to chastise and correct
A DISPUTATION PROVING That it is not convenient to grant UNTO MINISTERS SECULAR JURISDICTION And to make them Lords Statesmen IN PARLIAMENT LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXIX It is not expedient to grant unto Clergy-men secular Jurisdiction 1. I Do not undertake to prove that it is simply unlawful And the worthy and judicious Bishop Davenant doth grant and assert Determ quest 11. That the Law of Prudence and Equity it self doth forbid Kings to burden Clergy-men with it so far as it will let and avocate them from their spriritual office and function 2. It will be demanded who must be Judge what is and what is not expedient To which the forenamed Davenant makes answer That is to be accounted expedient which a Wise Man shall so judge and determine whereunto I assent He afterwards adds That which a wise and religious Prince shall so determine Neither do I dissent in this provided it be soundly understood For that which a wise and religious Prince shall judge to be expedient if it be so indeed all wise men will at least they ought so to think for sound wisdom is the same in all But it is too possible for the most wise and prudent Prince to enjoyn things not good and expedient King David thought it most prudent to number the people who was a most wise Prince but in that his wisdom fail'd him Joab his General that was much inferiour to David in goodness and heavenly wisdom thought it very imprudent and the event proved Joab to be the wiser man in that 3. Some things are more evidently other things are less evidently expedient The Scales may hang so even and equilibrious that a wise comparing judgment can scarce tell whether is the heavier end and whether part hath the stronger reasons and the Scales may be so odd and unequal so much solid reason may be said for the one side and so little for the other that to a wise comparing judgment the case is not doubtful to decide Now I shall manifest that it is evidently inexpedient to grant secular jurisdiction to Ministers and Glergy-men that is That the same person be a Minister Bishop or Pastor of Souls and a Magistrate or â—oâ—â—lve Judge one that heareth the Sword Rom. 13.4 4. Arg. 1. Jesus Christ did not see it meet to exercise any such power while he was upon earth being moved to be a kind of worldly Judg between two Brethren he refused saying Who made me a Judg or a divider over you Determ quaest 4. Luk. 12.14 As if he should say says Davenant upon the words Neither by divine nor by humane Ordination do I exercise Judiciary power over private persons much less over Kings By which argument the same Davenant goes about to prove the nullity of the Popes power in Temporals Now if his argument be of force against the Bishop of Rome I see not but it is of equal force against worldly Jurisdiction in all Bishops and Pastors whatsoever Now if Christ saw it not meet for him to exercise worldly Jurisdiction methinks all Bishops and Pastors of Souls who have their office and calling particularly from him should see it meet to learn of him and imitate him herein and Princes themselves should not think it expedient to burden Ministers with that which Christ himself refused and put from him as either unlawful in it self or inexpedient Mat. 11.29 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me 5. Arg. 2. The Apostles and the successors of the Apostles the Bishops and Pastors of the Churches for the space of three hundred years unto the time of Constantine had no Temporal Jurisdiction nor did exercise any And those are counted the best and purest times of the Church If we may not make the Apostles of Christ and their immediate successors the Bishops and Pastors of the Churches for the first three hundred years our pattern what shall we make our pattern and by what law and rule shall we determine what is and what is not expedient Can we better govern our selves and the Churches than they Have we more wisdom to invent and find out ways of good governing the Church than they had Have we more holiness and goodness and faithfulness to God our selves our calling and the Church than had they If the Church did well and best subsist when it had no Magistrates but what were Pagan Infidel and Jewish many of whom were great Persecutors all of them deâ—â—â—â— of the Christian name will it not well and better subsist if better can be where Magistrates are Christian and desenders of the Faith if Bishops and Pastors contenting themselves with no more but the Episcopal and Pastoral office and refusing all worldly Jurisdiction shall wisely and faithfully behave themselves in their office as those first and most ancient Bishops and Pastors of the Churches did 6. Unto this the worthy Davenant makes answer That those â—â—nes and ours are not alike Those times were exceeding 〈◊〉 and good ours be exceeding bad There needed no secular authority in Pastors then there was so much holiness and piety the Word and Discipline were abundantly enough but now the Christian World is so exceeding corrupt and degenerate that unless Ministers be armed with Secular Jurisdiction their authority will be despised and the Discipline which God hath appointed to be in his Church will be scorned as base and contemptible rather than be reverenced for any good it will do Non tam usui esset quam ludibrio those are his very words Davenant is the man whom I do highly esteem and so do all that be wise and knowing in the things of God but in this Davenant hath fallen much below himself and the feebleness of his reasoning doth much confirm me in my judgment and perswasion that the cause which he oppugneth and which I do here defend is too strong to be overthrown 7. His answer is partly not true not to say it is directly and flatly false For let any impartial man make a due estimate of things and compare the Pastors and Churches under the Apostles I except the persons of the Apostles themselves and during their abode upon earth and their successors the Pastors and Churches immediately following to the time of Constantine I say compare these with the Pastors and Churches of our times and it will be found that there is no such inequality as he suggests Bradford and Philpot and Rogers and Cranmer and Latimer and Ridley and Hooper and Bilney and Sanders and other of the English Martyrs were worthy and famous Martyrs of Christ as well as were those first and most ancient Martyrs And Grindal and Jewel and Vsher and Davenant and Gataker and Vines and Hildesham and Preston and Sibbs and Dod and Joseph Allen and many more of our own and foreign Divines were able to vye with the ancient Bishops and Pastors of the Churches such as died not Martyrs And the private Christians and Families and Congregations of our times
not If they were then what discretion could there be in the people to refer all the Causes within the Bishops Diocess supposing it to be of the same extent and bigness with the Diocesses of Bishops in England to one man their Bishop And what discretion could it be in such a Bishop as among us the Bishop of Norwich the Bishop of London the Bishop of Lincoln c. to take upon him the trouble of hearing and arbitrating all Civil causes controversies and differences of the people inhabiting so vast a compass as his Diocess He must do nothing else but meerly hear civil Causes He must be but a Bishop in name How expensive and very inconvenient would it be for all the Christians in any the least Diocess in England much more in the greatest to travel with their Law-Suits to the Bishop of the Diocess His House then must be a meer Westminster hall and all the days in the year scarce the Lords-day excepted must be term-time with him To think that the Apostle ever meant any such thing when he counsels them to refer their matters to a wise Arbitrator is a gross wresting of his words For he wrote to the Church of Corinth which was but one particular Church Is there not a wise man among you He must be a wise man among them one near at hand easie to be resorted to to whom they might refer their Causes And therefore it could not be that the Christians then referred their Causes to a Diocesan Bishop such as ours And if not then the Cause of our Diocesan Bishops will receive a deep wound and it will make way for an unwelcome truth That the Bishops to whom the people referred their Causes were the Pastors of every Parish the very same with our Parish-Ministers and the Rectors of Parsonages These of the Clergy were the fittest to arbitrate the Causes of all the people within their Parish A Parish-Bishop or Minister may with far more ease arbitrate and compose the dissentions and suits of all in his Parish than the Diocesan Bishop can do of all the Pastors and people in his Diocess 3. It is not the intent and meaning of the foresaid words of the Apostle that Pastors should be imployed in hearing and arbitrating the secular Causes of their own people or of the people of other Parishes I will not say it is absolutely and universally unlawful nor will I say it is expedient in no case at all There may be Cases rarely here and there in Parishes so circumstanced both under Christian and Pagan Magistrates in which it may be both lawful and expedient for the Pastors to arbitrate and compose suits and differences among the people But generally and for the most part it is inexpedient For either he will do right or do wrong If he do right it is well if one side be not displeased and fall out with him and take a grudge against him and either turn from him and not hear him or hear him with prejudice and so by this means the Pastor may be an occasion of much sin and damage and damnation to his Soul which prudence and piety and compassion in a Minister doth forbid and will make him watch against If he do wrong then it is hurtful to his own Soul it is a wronging of the Innocent and a perverting of Justice and a scandal to his Ministry Besides He can scarce do it but with distraction If he do it but a little it will be a hindrance to his other work and distract him much more will it hinder and distract him if he should use it and do it frequently And the words of Christ are considerable and worthy to be thought or Luke 12.14 Man who made me a judge or a divider an Arbitrator between you 4. The words of the Apostle may be well understood in this sense either there is besides your Pastor a wise man among you and one that is able to judge between brethren or there is not If there be refer your contentions and civil causes to him Neither go to Law before the unbelievers nor do you trouble your Pastors and Bishops but single out a wise man among you one that is able to hear and decide your Causes and make him Judge and Arbitrator between you If there be not one such wise and able man among you then it is a shame and reproach to you all What Do you call your selves Saints Do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world even Angels themselves Are they no then fit to judge on earth small matters and to decide a petty controversie about mine and thine between Brethren but Brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers This is to your shame 5. When Constantine came to the Crown and Magistrates became Christians the most expedient way had been to have eased Pastors of all those molestations and avocations and lest the Pastor nothing to do but his own part and the Magistrate his part To make the Clergy worldly Judges and Magistrates is no benefit but a burden it is nothing that a wise man should rejoice in but rather groan under as a pressure and hindrance and pray to God to be eased of it and rejoyce in being free from it and at liberty to imploy all the time which was wont to be spent in such Secular affairs in Religious and Sacred exercises which have a more special tendency to Souls good and are most becoming a Pastor 18. Lastly I will set the worthy Davenant against himself who going about to prove that the Bishop of Rome hath no temporal power over Kings lays down this position Bonum spirituale non postulat ut ulla temporalis potestas a Romano pontifice exerceatur And if not by him then by no other Bishop or Pastor whatsoever Non est enim in ordine ad hunc finem aut necessarium medium aut accommodatum aut licitum aut denique cum spirituali censura excommunicationis ullo jure connexum Spiritual good doth not require that any temporal power be exercised by the Bishop of Rome for it is not in order to this end either a necessary mean or fit or lawful or lastly by any right knit with the spiritual censure of excommunication Determ quest 4. And he gives very substantial proofs I am at a loss how to reconcile him to himself But whether he be consistent to himself or not I lay not my cause upon that the other proofs and evidences do overpower my understanding 19 Now if it be manifestly inexpedient to make Clergy-men Magistrates and grant them civil jurisdiction then it must needs be manifestly inexpedient to make them supream Magistrates and to confer upon them the highest jurisdiction which Subjects be capable of as to be Lords in Parliament and to have equal votes with the Peers and Nobility of the Realm and sit as Princes there to be many days and weeks and months from their Flock and to be
are ancient is to say they are more odious and call for the more deep repentance and speedy and sound and through reformation 26. There are in this as in most other cases two extreams which be alike equi-distant from the true and right mean The one is to make no use at all of Divines nor to consult with them in any case This I take to be a dangerous extream contrary to the light of nature the true office and institution of the Ministry and that duty which all Christian Princes and Parliaments and People do owe to the Lord Jesus Christ unto whom they are vowed and sworn to observe his Laws and to be sincerely subject to his government in all things And he doth govern his Church by Pastors Teachers and spiritual Overseers with whom all persons of what degree and rank soever they be are to advise and consult not in every small and little matter but in cases of weight and concernment if they cannot otherwise satisfie themselves as they will do with Lawyers about their Estates and Physicians about their Bodies The Papists do grosly tyrannize over all both Kings and Subjects by binding them to make a particular recitation or confession of their sins to their Priests at certain times frequently thereby making themselves Masters in some sort of mens consciences and unjustly privy to their secrets and abusing the name authority and ordinance of Christ to rigour and tyranny and thereby deceiving and deluding souls into much superstition vassalage and hypocrisie To avoid which Anti-papists have run into a quite contrary extream forgetting of what daily and standing use and concernment Gods Ministers are both to persons and societies The Priests lips are to keep knowledg and the people are to seek the Law at their mouth Mal. 2.7 When the Philistines were to send back the Ark they consulted with their Priests and Diviners 1 Sam. 6.2 Ministers are not only to be heard in publick but to be consulted with in private and to be made use of in all cases and questions Ecclesiastical which concern the general interest of the Church its holiness and its unity and which cannot well and soundly be determined without the assistance advice and direction of impartial wise and holy Divines I am so far from being against this that rather I judge it a common errour and mispractice in Christian States as well as particular persons that they do not make that due and godly use of Ministers and Divines which they ought to do whence it is that they do so often miscarry in their ways and counsels because they do too much lean to their own understandings and either consult not at all with Gods Ministers or if they do they consult with those only which are partial and unfaithful or they do treacherously and hypocritically conceal something of the case from them or do like the Papists which make confession a meer ceremony resting in the work done imitating her in Prov. 7.14 People can send for Ministers to advise with upon their sick-beds they should do it when they are in health There is Parliament humility and self-denial which Jesus Christ doth bind all Christian States and Rulers to Luk. 9.23 The long Parliament had their Assembly of Divines 27. The other extream is of making more and further use of Ministers than need requires and than will stand with the prudence conveniency and quality of their work and calling and in making an undue disparity and inequality among Ministers and Divines appointing some to be Lords and Dominators over the rest advancing them too high in worldly dignities authority and preferment and thereby establishing pride and partiality It is grounded upon a mistake which is that by Gods Law Bishops and Arch-bishops have a majority of power and jurisdiction above the rest of the Pastors though they excel or be equal to the Bishops and Arch-bishops in true wisdom and holiness and Ministerial graces and diligence whereas it is evident from the very nature of the thing it self that a Bishop and Overseer of Souls are but two names for the same thing and that to be an Arch-bishop is to be Episcoporum primus an eminent Presbyter the chief of all the Bishops Presbyters and Pastors not that he hath a greater commission than they The authority and commission of Bishops Pastors and Ministers is but one Matt. 28.19 20 and it consisteth in these three 1. An authority to Christianize Souls and admit Disciples into the Family of Christ which is his Church by Baptism 2. An authority to use them as Disciples and Members of the Family when admitted by seeding them with knowledg and understanding watching over them and doing all necessary and convenient episcopal and pastoral acts and offices to them 3. An authority to discommon and cast out of the Family by penal and juridicial Church-censures contumacious and grosly disorderly livers whom no other remedies will amend 28. This threefold authority every right ordained Presbyter or Parish Minister hath and no Arch-bishop or Bishop hath more for more is not necessary nor is there any place for more And less will not suffice to make a man a compleat Pastor and Christ makes no incompleat Pastors Qui aliquid alicui concedit concedit id sine quo res ipsa nequit concedi He that gives the end doth includedly give the due and regular and subservient means And Qui adimit medium destruit finem We must not for fear of making every Pastor a Pope deny him to be a Pastor Grant him to be a Pastor and thereby you grant unto him pastoral power and then you grant him authority to cast out as well as to take in to have an expulsive as well a a receptive faculty Ministers may abuse their authority so also may Magistrates Parents c. But is that any ground to deny them the authority of Magistrates and Parents If they be not fit to be trusted with the pastoral office let them not be Pastors at all If they be fit to be Pastors let them be compleat pastors An incompleat Pastor is terminus diminuens No Scripture nor sound Reason doth give any warrant for making men but half-Bishops half-Pastors and Presbyters I say again That an Arch-bishop is but an eminent Presbyter as Peter among the Apostles or as the foreman of the jury The rest of the Apostles are compleat Apostles as well as Peter and have equal commission and authority The rest of the Jury are jurors as well as the Foreman and are equal judges of the fact True it is that among Apostles and Pastors who be equal as to Office and Commission there may be much inequality as to gifts and graces and faithful and wise execution of their office As all Parents have alike authority over their Children but all Parents are not alike wise and good and officious in their places unto some God giveth ten talents unto some five unto some two unto all at least one And it is
Gods will that he who is best be best esteemed and that the less wise do learn of the more wise that the younger submit themselves unto the elder yea all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility 1 Pet. 5.5 Ministers cannot always be executing their Office as Praying Preaching Baptizing c. And there may be some parts and branches of the Office which they may never be called to exercise as Ordination authoritative Excommunication and Absolution And no authority is given but for use and edification and where there is no use of it or where it cannot be used without making things worse and doing more hurt than good it is to be forborn But it is fit that Ministers be Ministers and Pastors and Bishops be Pastors and Bishops and be invested and intrusted with compleat Pastoral and Episcopal power and that they do use and exercise every branch and part of their office and authority when and so often as sanctified Conscience and sound prudence and discretion shall say it is convenient and they cannot forbear to do it without manifest damage and inconvenience as it is convenient a Captain have his Sword though he may not be put to use it in fight against any And it is fit that a Schoolmaster have power to use his Ferula and moderately correct untoward and misruly Scholars though possibly he may have none such and so never be put to use the Rod. 29. This being so I must needs grant that if it be convenient and advisable that the whole tribe of Ministers who be of the order of Presbyters be accounted Lord-Bishops Lord-Presbyters Lord-Pastors and Lord-Preachers and have equal right to be Lords and Statesmen in Parliament and supream Judges in all causes and questions both Political and Ecclesiastical which shall come before that honourable Assembly then I yield the cause my position is erroneous and I do ill to say it is inconvenient that Clergy-men be Lords and Statesmen in Parliament But if it be inconvenient and against sound prudence to honour or rather burden the whole Tribe of Ministers and right-ordained Pastors and Presbyters with these honours preferments greatness and authority then I see not but my position will hold sound and good for if all appearance of evil is to be avoided then all appearance of partiality is to be avoided and of that partiality which hath conjoined with it many snares and which a wise man is bound to avoid as distractions precipices and burdens I have no envious partiality against Arch-bishops and Bishops I am neither against the name nor the office and thing imported by the name Every Pastor unto whom God doth give more than ordinary gifts and graces is in my judgment a real Archbishop in Gods Church jure Divino a chief Pastor and eminent Prelate in Gods Church above his fellows of which rank I do estimate the famous Vsher Augustine Athanasius Calvin Zanchy Bradford Davenant Cranmer Dâ—d Bains Hildersham Preston Sibbs Gataker Joseph Hall Babington Joseph Allaine and many more both ancient and modern Divines all burning and shining lights in Gods Church more eminent than vulgar Divines I think my self not worthy to carry their Books after them I think they better deserve the Title of Lord than many a temporal carnal Lord that is honoured with that name The fifth Commandment bindeth me to honour my Father and my Mother and my Catechism teacheth me that by Father and Mother is to be understand all superiors in office age and gifts Good Obadiah says to Elijah Art thou that my Lord Elijah 1 Kings 18.8 The truth is our ordinary word Master or Sir which we give to almost all importeth the same with the title Lord it being in Greek Kurios and Kurie in Latin Dominus and Domine save that custom which is the great arbiter of Speech doth appropriate this title Lord to the temporal nobility If we must give honour to whom honour is due and honour all whom God doth honour or else we are disobedient to Gods word and unholy then both Clergy-men and Lay-men Magistrates Pastors Parents and private Christians are to be honoured with decent and seemly honour without denying them what all wise and peaceable Christians account to be their due and to be safe and decent to be given to them or giving them more out of flattery and baseness having mens persons in admiration because of advantage See Job 32.22 Jude 16. 30. But now it is not the custom with us nor with the Churches of Christ and Christian people and custom in this case creates a Law 1 Cor. 11.16 to give the Title Lord to the Parish-bishops and Presbyters though never so eminent and it is but meet that according to the use of all Nations and the Scripture it self a difference be made between the temporal Nobility and the Clergy And why it should be given to a Popish Bishop meerly because a Bishop such as Bonner Gardiner and many of the Popes and Cardinals who have been wretched men or to a Ridley a Hooper a Davenant rather than to a Bradford a Philpot a Dod a Joseph Alleine I know not If the honour be due to the Office then all Ministers must be counted Lord-bishops and Lord-pastors I am clear in that Act. 20.28 Phil. 1.1 This I know will not please our Lord Arch-Bishops and Bishops and those whose zeal upholds them All that I contend for is that all that be equal in office be equal in honour and no one partially preferred no one assume to himself carnal state and superiority over his Brethren Jam. 3.5 Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth This advancing of equals above their equals and brethren above their brethren and pastors above pastors in Gods Church is not good 31. I do not impugn bare names and titles but my aim is to impugn factious partiality and pride in Clergy-men occasioned by the over-indulgence of Princes and supream Magistrates It is simplicity humility and sincerity in Bishops which I contend for Either the Arch-bishops and Bishops must come down and abate of their honour their lordliness their principalities and worldly state and be upon even ground with the rest of their Brethren who have as good insides as they and are as real Bishops and Overseers of souls as they and have equal office authority and commission with them Matt. 28.19 20. Joh. 20.23 and will pass for as much at death and judgment as they or else the rest of their Brethren who be equal in office and merits to them must be heightned and advanced and made to be upon even ground with them This latter is not advisable nor will be granted it is not fit it should The other is both feisiable and convenient It will make our Arch-bishops and Bishops to be no worse men nor worse Arch bishops and Bishops if they be but meer and simple Bishops of Souls and meddle no more in State-matters and secular affairs than needs they
must and will stand with the order and quality and greatness of their work 32. Do you think in good earnest that Church and State will all go to rack and ruine if our two Arch-bishops and the Diocesan Bishops be not present in Parliament and sit as Lords and Princes there must they have the hearing of every Cause and be supream Judges and Magistrates and political Officers under the King were it not more becoming you to be among your people Preaching and Praying and visiting the Souls and Families under your charge in imitation of the Apostles Act. 20. Act. 6.2 3 4 21 28 31. than striving for worldly greatness and secular precedency Is not the way to Heaven strait enough to you but you will make it more strait cannot Traytors and Murderers be tried without you would it be any disparagement to the best of you all to be as Peter and Paâ—l yea as Jesus Christ himself rather than like the Pope do you stand for these worldly honours and preeminencies out of pure zeal for Gods Glory and the Churches good Why then do you heat your fellow-servants and use them more unchristianly than Pagans have used Christians Act. 38.20 21. and give your Votes that all the Pastors in the Land be silenced and put down for not assenting and consenting to many things which you your selves confess to be in their own nature indifferent all moderate and sound conforming Ministers confess to be burdensom and inconvenient and multitudes of conscientious and learned and peaceable dissenting Divines and Protestants do say are flatly unlawful 33. It is an errour to think that Episcopacy and Arch-episcopacy cannot stand unless Bishops and Arch bishops be made Lords and Legislators and Princes in Parliament and have worldly grandeur authority and greatness to support the simple office of Prelacy and Episcopacy in Gods Church These worldly additions and cumulations of secular office and honour are things extrinsical to right and simple Prelacy and Episcopacy Right and simple Prelacy and Episcopacy do not stand by the will and donation of Princes but by a superior Law even by Divine and unchangeable Right by the Word of God and by the Law and light of nature and the intrinsical goodness and expediency of the thing For if there were no Christian Magistracy or Parliament yet would there be Prelacy and Episcopacy in Gods Church It is of the law of Nature that the best be best esteemed and that vulgar Pastors and Divines that have but one or two talents of Ministerial and Episcopal learning holinesâ— wisdom and usefulness give place to those who are more eminent and whose graces and vertues do render them singularly excellent above their Brethren though they have but one and the same commission and authority Authority is one thing spiritual and mental qualifications and endowments are another thing Now we see how that God himself doth difference among the Pastors by conferring on some extraordinary abilities and qualifications and thereby notifying to all the Churches the singular reverence and esteem which he would have such eximious persons to have from all the Churches as Daniel was preferred above the Presidents Dan. 6.3 and Esther and her Maids above the Women Esther 2.9 34. Every man naturally hath a Pope in his belly is the common saying Pride is an inborn sin It is excessive pride in the Pope to think himself more than a man and it is excessive pride in an Infant to think himself a grown man and in Pastors that be but of infant-understandings to think themselves equal with such as be of grown and large and singularly eminent understandings Simple Prelacy among Divines is a Divine thing Every eminent holy and wise Presbyter is a real Arch-bishop in Gods Church This he would be were there no Christian Magistracy to uphold him There is a subjection due from one Pastor to another as from one man to another 1 Pet. 5.5 As it will not stand with true Christian humility self-denyal and subjection to Christ in all things that Pastors do dominate over Pastors and Lord it over their Brethren 1 Pet. 5.3 So it will not stand with the same Christian graces and duties for one Minister of inferior and smaller parts gifts and graces not to acknowledg the greater gifts and graces of others whom God hath made more eminent There is as great variety of Pastors as there is of Men and of Saints some are as eyes some as hands some as feet in Gods Church The weakest sincere Christian Pastor is a Pastor as truly as the highest and most excellent Pastor and is of use in his place In this there is no difference between the most eminent Arch-bishop Vsher and the meanest honest Parish-Minister But then as to wisdom and holiness and usefulness there is great difference and inequality and out of this ariseth natural simple divine and unchangeable Prelacy Episcopacy and Arch-episcopacy which is not a thing pleasing to flesh and blood and it doth neither favour nor make against any of the three forms of Church-government called Prelacy Presbytery and Independency further than they do favour or be against true impartial godliness of which this divine and simple Prelacy among Divines is one essential branch I do not say it is an appendant or appurtenant of Godliness and Religion but is an essential branch It is of the essence of my Religion that I put a difference as between a godly and ungodly Pastor so also between a godly Pastor that is almost ungodly and hath but one talent of godliness and a godly Pastor who is of the highest rank of godly Pastors and is full of the wisdom and grace and joy of the Holy Ghost and is of extraordinary usefulness and eminency in Gods Church We must not for fear of inclining to the Popes lordliness and supremacy run into another dangerous extream and tempt Infants to think they are Men and Scholars to think that they are fit to be Teachers and Learning Disciples Novices and Children that they are equal in wisdom and knowledg to their Parents Masters and Tutors between whom there is no compare 35. I make no doubt but there have been holy and eminent men Lord-bishops and Arch-bishops Peers in Parliament God forbid that I should think or say otherwise But either they were no more but meer and simple Bishops and Arch-bishops chosen and singled forth from among their Brethren to be consulted with in matters and cases ecclesiastical and proper for Divines and Bishops or they were more If the former and they kept in the rank and station of Bishops and Divines for my part I am not he that shall oppose it And if there be any word in all this disputation against such use of Bishops and Divines indictum volo I wish it unsaid But if they were more and took themselves to be more than simple Bishops and Pastors in Gods Church and to be superior to their brethren in power and authority if they took themselves