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 cannot look for much knowledg in the Common people For if the light be darkness then ipsae tenebrae quantae as we know who said But the grand Quarrel of these times is about Episcopacy followed with more acrimony than the former was because there was something more to be gained by the fall of Bishops than by contending about Forms and Freedoms to be used in Prayer And in this point the Papists and the Presbyters differ not a little both in the end they aimed at and the motives to it The Papists quarrelled not the Calling the Episcopal function and much less the Revenues which belonged unto it but the persons rather offended chiefly that some Men of their own persuasions were not advanced to those great places and yet not quarrelling the persons neither for want of any fitness or abilities to discharge the Office but for defect of some Legalities in their Consecration And if they could possess the World that we had no Bishops it would be no hard matter to persuade them that we had no Ministery no lawful Dispensation of the Word and Sacraments by consequence that since we had withdrawn our selves from the See Apostolick we had left off to be a Church the gaining of which point was the matter aimed at in the Calumny Quid enim est Ecclesia nisi Plebs Sacerdoti adunata Pastori suo grex adhaerens Cypr. Epist 69. No Bishop no Church in St. Cyprians judgment for that by Pastor and Sacerdos he doth mean the Bishop is a thing past question In this respect as Harding in his Answer to Jewels Challenge would not acknowledg him to be Bishop of Salisbury and Bonner denied Horn in an open Sessions to be Bishop of Winchester so did they generally disclaim all the first Bishops of Queen Elizabeths Reign and consequently those also which descended from them as being consecrated in no other Chappel than the Nags-head in Cheapside nor by the imposition of any other Hands than their own nor finally by any lawful Ordinal either old or new But being beaten from these Holds partly by the inspection of the Publick Registers at Lambeth-house and partly by the Testimony of some honourable persons who were present at those Consecrations but partly by the pains and industry of Fr. Mason in his Book entituled Vindiâ—iae Ecclesiae Anglicanae they join themselves underhand to the other Faction for the subverting of the Calling as the easiest and most expedite way to their Journeys end With greater violence and impetuosity did the other Faction hurry on towards their Design spur'd on by Covetousness and Ambition the two principal Sticklers in all Distractions of the Church The Lay-brethren with unsatiable Covetousness gaped after the Possessions and Lands of the Bishops as the Presbyters and Ministers with as great Ambition did aspire unto their jurisdiction And as He in Plutarch seeing his own name unexpectedly amongst the Proscripts and consequently certain of nothing more than some sudden death cryed out aloud that it was his fine Gardens and his Countrey-house which drew that fatal end upon him so might the Bishops also say that it was their fair Houses and their goodly Mannors which exposed them to the common envy and sacrificed them in conclusion to Spoil and Rapine For though nothing else was pretended by them but a zeal to Gods glory the purity of the Ordinances and the Churches peace yet as my Author well observes Ecclesiarum opibus inhiabant it was the Churches goods which they most gaped after Camâ—d in Annal Eliz. not the Churches good In vain had the Presbyterian Ministers laboured in the pursuit of their Ambition and hopelesly endeavoured to change the Government that they might have it to themselves had they not been animated and supported in it by their Lay-patrons many of which as some of the Scottish Writers say of theirs would have crucified CHRIST himself to have had his garments Presuming on their power and favour some of the Ministers which had fled into Geneva in Queen Maries days brought with them at their coming back in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign a strong affection and some secret instructions withal to settle the Presbyterian Discipline first fitted by Calvin for that City in the Church of England Incouraged thereunto no doubt both by Calvin and Beza the two great Patriarchs of the Sect who could not but be much agrieved that their Discipline which had found such welcome in the neighbouring Churches should find none in this And yet we do not hear of any open Declaration which they made herein till the year 1566. in which Genebrard placeth the beginning of the Puritan Faction more visibly appearing about two years after when Coleman Button Cambd. Annal. An. 1568. and some others spoken of before and Cartwright not long after them did openly undertake the Business And we may very well conceive that Beza would not be an idle Spectator when they once were at it having given order unto Knox for the Church of Scotland Ne pestem illam unquam admittat quantumvis unitatis retinendie specie blandiatur Beza in Epist that is to say not to admit the plague of Episcopal Government though it might seem of special use for preserving Unity Thus countenanced abroad and back'd at home they presently mustred up their forces betook themselves to the quarrel and whole Realm was on the sudden in an uproar The Parliaments continually troubled with their Supplications Admonitions and the like and when they found not there that favour which they looked for they denounced this dreadful Curse against them That there shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper to be a Parliament man For this and that which follows see Bancrofts dangerous positions c. or bear Rule in England any more The Queen exclaimed upon in many of their Pamphlets her honourable Council scandalously censured as opposers of the Gospel The Prelates every where cryed down as Antichristian Petti-popes Bishops of the Devil cogging and cousening Knaves dumb Dogs Enemies of God c. and their Courts and Chanceries the Synagogues of Satan After this they erected privately their Presbyteries in divers places of the Land and cantoned the whole Kingdom into their several Classes and divisions and in a time when the Spaniards were expected they threaten to Petition the Queens Majesty with 100000 Hands Their Discipline they call'd the Scepter and Throne of Christ and their erecting of Presbyteries the setting of Christ upon his Throne Their quarrel not being raised as they gave it out about Caps and Surplices but whether Jesus Christ should be King or not Good ground for our Fifth monarchy-men and by them well followed Never did men so ply their Adversaries with the Hail-shot of Libels as Martin Mar-prelate and his followers plaid upon the Bishops but they had then no Ordinance on their side and did little hurt And all this while the Church might seem to he asleep till
Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise auhtority upon them Vobis autem non sic Matth. 20.25 Luke 22.25 But so it shall not be amongst you Where plainly it appears both by the Text and context first that this strife and contestation was only amongst the twelve Apostles and therefore howsoever it may prove that there was to be a parity or equality amongst themselves yet it will never prove but that they were and might be still superiour unto the Seventy And secondly that Christ our Saviour doth not prohibit them the use and exercise of all authority on those who were inferiour and subordinate to them but only such authority as the Princes of the Gentiles and the great Lords and Ministers about them did exercise upon their Subjects The power and government of the Apostles in the Church of Christ was meerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as a Father beareth unto his children but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lordly and imperious Rule such as a Master exerciseth on his slaves and servants 1 Pet. 5.3 2 Cor. 2.24 Chrysost in oper imper in Mat. hom 35. Not as Lords over Gods inheritance but as the helpers of their joy say the two Apostles and herein stands the difference according unto that of Chrysostom Principes mundi ideo fiunt ut dominentur minoribus suis The Princes of the Earth were made to this end and purpose that they might Lord it over their inferiours and make them slaves and spoil them and devour them abasing them unto the death for their own profit and glory Principes autem Ecclesiae fiunt c. But the Governours or Princes of the Church were instituted to another end viz. To serve their inferiours and to minister unto them all such things as they have received from the Lord. This eminence and superiority over all the Church which was thus setled in the Apostles by our Lord and Saviour will appear more fully if we consult the several ministrations committed unto them and to them alone For unto them alone it was that Christ committed the whole power of preaching of his holy Word administring his blessed Sacraments retaining and forgiving sins ruling and ordering of his flock giving them also further power of instituting and ordaining such by whom these several Offices were to be performed till his second coming None but the Twelve were present with him when he ordained the blessed Sacrament of his body and blood Luke 22.19 and unto them alone was said Hoc facite do this i. e. take bread and break and bless it and distribute it in remembrance of me To the eleven alone it was that he gave commission to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to all creatures Matth. 28.19 baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost They only had that powerful and immediate mission John 20.21 John 20.22 23. Sicut misit me Pater As my Father sent me so send I you and upon them alone he breathed saying Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye do remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins you do retain they are retained Finally they and none but they were trusted with the feeding and the governance of the Flock of Christ the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek doth imply them both for howsoever Pasce oves meas John 21.15 16. was in particular spoken to Saint Peter yet was that charge incumbent on them all as before we noted from Saint Austin By all which passages and Texts of Scripture it is clear and manifest that the Apostles were by Christ ordained to be the sole and ordinary Teachers Bishops and Pastors of the Church next and immediately under his most blessed self Heb. 13.20 1 Pet. 2.25 who still continueth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Shepheard of the Sheep as Paul the Shepheard and Bishop of our Souls as Saint Peter calls him The Seventy had no part in this new Commission the dispensation of the Word and Sacraments but at second hand as they were afterwards intrusted with it by the holy Apostles either as Prophets Presbyters or Evangelists according to the measure of the Grace which was given unto them or specially designed to some part therein after the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour by the immediate designation of the Holy Ghost And when they were entrusted with a part thereof yet were they still secundi Ordinis Ministers of a second rank inferiour unto the Apostles both in place and power to whom all latitude of power was given Nay the Apostles took an hint from this different mission to institute two several sorts of Ministers in the Church of Christ the one subordinate unto the other as were the Seventy unto them And this by vertue of these words in their Commission Ita mitto vos i. e. as the Arch-Bishop of Spalato very well applyeth it De Repab Eccl. l. 2. c. 3. n. 7. Sicut ego à Patre habui potestatem eligendi Ministros etiam diversi ordinis ita vos pariter habeatis As I received power from my heavenly Father of instituting Ministers even of divers Orders so I give it you And therefore whatsoever the Apostles did therein they did it after Christs example and by his authority and consequently the imparity of Ministers by them ordained was founded on the Law of God and the original institution of our Saviour Christ by whom the power of Ordination was to them committed and by them unto their Successours in the Church for ever To bring this Chapter to an end our Saviour Christ having thus furnished his Apostles with those several powers faculties and preheminences which before we spake of he thought it best to recommend them to the blessings of Almighty God whose work they were to go about And therefore being to take his fare-well of them Luke 24.50 did in a very solemn manner bestow his benediction on them Elevatis manibus suis benedixit eis he lifted up his hands and blessed them as Saint Luke hath it Which benediction Saint Austin takes to be a consecrating of those holy men unto the power and dignity of Bishops Aug. quaest N. Test qu. 14. Ipse enim priusquam in caelos ascenderet imponens manum Apostolis ordinavit cos Episcopos as the Father hath it Which whether it were so or not I mean so done with such an outward Form and Ceremony and in that very point of time is perhaps uncertain But sure I am that for the thing it self which is here delivered the Fathers many of them do agree with Austin affirming passim in their writings that the Apostles were made Bishops by our blessed Lord. Saint Cyprian voucheth it expresly The Deacons ought to understand Cyp. lib. 3. Ep. 9. quoniam Apostolos i. e. Episcopos Praepositos Dominus elegit that the Lord Christ himself did chuse the Apostles that is the Bishops
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 Scriâ—tor Eccl. in Tertulâ—d 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
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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eusebius by the Bishops there Euseb hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not so properly translated as they might have been and as the same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
ΚΕΙΜΗΛΙΑ ' ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΑ THE HISTORICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS Of the Reverend and Learned Peter Heylyn D. D. Now Collected into one Volume I. Ecclesia Vindicata Or The Church of ENGLAND Justified 1. In the Way and Manner of her Reformation 2. In Officiating by a Publick Liturgy 3. In prescribing a set Form of Prayer to be used by Preachers before their Sermons 4. In her Right and Patrimony of Tythes 5. In retaining the Episcopal Government 6. And the Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons II. The History of the SABBATH in two Parts III. Historia Quinquarticularis Or A Historical Declaration of the Judgment of the Western Churches and more particularly of the Church of England in the Five Controverted Points reproach'd in these last times with the Name of Arminianism IV. The Stumbling-Block of Disobedience and Rebellion proving the Kingly Power to be neither Co-ordinate nor Subordinate to any other upon Earth To which are Added V. A Treatise de jure Paritatis Episcoporum Or A Defence of the Right of Peerage of the English Bishops AND An Account of the Life of the AUTHOR Never before Published With an exact Table to the whole LONDON Printed by M. Clark for Charles Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1681. THE LIFE OF The most Learned and Reverend Dr. PETER HEYLYN TO Write the Lives of worthy Personages was ever accounted a most laudable custom amongst the Heathens For to perpetuate the memory of the Dead who were eminent in Vertue did manifestly conduce to the publique benefit of the Living much more the Ancient Christians in their time both solemnly retained this practice and adjudged it an act of Piety and Justice to the Deceased If they were Men of Fame for Learning or other Virtues to Celebrate their praises to Posterity and by this means stir up Emulation in others to follow so noble precedents before them For which cause S. Jerom writ his Catalogus illustrium Virorum before whom also Eusebius with others in short recorded to future Ages the holy Lives of those Primitive Fathers who were signally active or passive for the Christian Faith Tacit. lib. 4. Suum cuique decus posteritas rependit saith the Historian Posterity doth render to every man the Commendation he deserves Therefore for the Reverend Authors sake and in due Veneration of his Name which I doubt not is honoured by all true Sons of the Church of England both for his Learned Writings and constant Sufferings in defence of her Doctrine and Discipline established by Law here is faithfully presented to them a true and compleat Narrative of his Life before his Elaborate Works Reprinted to answer the common expectation of men in this case who would read his Person together with the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of Providence that befel him as well as his Books that were long before published to the World To give satisfaction in the former here is nothing inserted but the Relations of truth which hath been often heard from his own mouth spoken to his dearest Friends or written by his Pen in some loose fragments of Paper that were found left in his Study after his death upon which as on a sure foundation the whole Series and Structure of the following Discourse is laid together but would have been more happily done if he had left larger Memoirs for it Nothing was more usual in ancient times than for good men saith Tacitus to describe their own Lives Suam ipsi vitam narrare In vita Jul. Agric. fiduciam potius morum quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt Upon a confidence of their right behaviour rather than to be supposed any arrogancy or presumption in them First of all I shall begin with his Birth In that Country above all other enobled with the famous seat of the Muses to which he was a constant Votary Cambd. Britt by Cambden Oxford is called the Sun Eye and Soul of Great Britain by Matthew Paris the second School of the Church the present Author saith co-eval to Paris if not before it the glory of this Island and of the Western parts near which place or noble Athens Peter Heylyn was Born at Burford an ancient Town of good Note in the County of Oxford upon the 29th day of Novemb. An. Dom. 1600. in the same year with the Celebrated Historian Quensted Dialog de pat illust vir Jacobus Aug. Thuanus on both whom the Stars poured forth the like benign influences But the former viz. Peter Heylyn had not only the faculty of an Historian but the gift of a general Scholar in other Learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as will appear to any one that reads his laborious Writings He was second Son of Henry Heylyn Gentleman Descended from the Ancient Family of the Heylyns of Pentre-Heylyn in Moungomery-Shire then part of Powis-Land from the Princes whereof they were derived and unto whom they were Hereditary Cup-Bearers for so the word Heylyn doth signifie in the Welsh or Brittish Language An Honourable Office in most Nations which we find in Divine as well as Profane History Neh. 1.11 Magni honoris erat Pincernae munus apud Persás saith Alex. ab Alex. And if Cambden Clarencieux be of good Authority the Reverend Doctor deriveth his Pedegree from Greno ap Heylyn who descended from Brockwell Skythrac one of the Princes of Powis-Land a man of so great Authority with the Princes of North-Wales that Llewellyn the last Prince of that Country made choice of the said Grono-ap-Heylyn to treat with the Commissioners of Edward I. King of England for the concluding a final Peace between them which afterwards being broken by L'lewellyn in him ended all the Princes of North-Wales after they had Reigned for the space of 405. years a goodly time that scarcely the greatest Monarchies in the World have withstood their fatal period and dissolution Yet the Family of Pentre Heylyn from whom the said Grono-ap-Heylyn descended in a direct Line continued their Seat until the year Anno Dom 1637. at which time Rowland Heylyn Alderman and Sheriff of London and Cousin-german to Dr. Heylyn's Father dying without Issue-Male the Seat was transferred into another Family into which the Heiresses Married but if the Doctor had lived a little longer he intended to have repurchased that Seat and bring it back again into the Name and Family His Cousin Mr. Rowland Heylyn before his death caused the Welch and Brittish Bible to be Printed at his own Charges in a portable Volume for the benefit of his Country-men which was before in a large Church Folio also the Practice of Piety in Welch a Book though common not to be despised besides a Welch Dictionary for the better understanding of that Language One thing of chief remark is a Tradition among the Heylyns deriving their Pedigree from Brockwell Skythrac in whose Family was ever observed that one of them had a gag Tooth and the same a notable Omen of good
Divinity as well as undertake the profession of it but afterward persuaded thereto by a Right Reverend and Learned Person Mr. Buckner he seriously applied himself to this Study and holy Profession receiving the Orders of Deacon and Priest but at distinct times in S. Aldates Church in Oxon from the Right Reverend Bishop Howson And when he was Ordained Priest he Preach'd the Ordination Sermon upon these words of our Blessed Saviour to S. Peter Luk. 22.32 And when thou art Converted strengthen thy Brethren What course and method he observed in his Theological Studies he informs us with his own Pen Theol. Vit. praef to the Reader When I began my Studies in Divinity I thought no course so proper and expedient for me as the way commended by King James which was that young Students in Divinity should be excited to study such Books as were most agreeable in Doctrine and Discipline to the Church of England and to bestow their time in the Fathers and Councils School-men Histories and Controversie and not to insist too long upon Compendiums and Abbreviators His Geography was in less than three years Reprinted And in this second Edition was enlarged and again presented by him to the Prince of Wales and by him graciously received with most affectionate commendations of the Author But it met with another kind of entertainment from King James for the Book being put into the hands of that Learned Monarch by Dr. Young then Dean of Winton who design'd nothing but the highest kindness to Mr. Heylyn thereby the King at first exprest his great value he had for the Author but unfortunatly falling on a passage wherein Mr. Heylyn gave Precedency to the French King and called France the more famous Kingdom King James became very much offended and ordered the Lord Keeper to call the Book in The Dean gave notice to Mr. Heylyn of his Majesties displeasure and advised him to repair to Court and make use of the Princes Patronage as the best lenitive to prevent the rankling of this wound But he rather chose to abide in Oxford and acquainting the Lord Danvers with the business afterward sent an Apology and Explanation of his meaning That the burden under which he suffered was rather a mistake than a crime and that mistake not his own but the Printers which was after corrected and amended In the year 1625. he took a Journey with Mr. Levet of Lincolns-Inn into France where he visited more Cities and made more observations in five weeks time for he stayed no longer than many others have done in so many years The particulars of this Journey he reduced into writing and some years after gratifi'd his Countrey with the publication of it together with some other excellent remarks made by him when he went in attendance upon the Earl of Danby to the Isle of Gernsey and Jersey Anno Dom. 1628. Had King James lived to have perused that Book Mr. Heylyn had needed no other Advocate to have restored him to his Princely favour and protection For never was the vanity and levity of the Monsieurs and deformity and sluttishness of their Madams more ingeniously exposed both in Verse and Prose than in the account that he gives of his Voyage into France On April the 18th 1627. he opposed in the Divinity-School and on Tuesday the 24th following he answered pro formâ upon these two Questions viz. An Ecclesia unquam fuerit invisibilis An Ecclesia possit errare Both which he determined in the Negative Upon occasional discourse with him he was pleased once to shew me his Supposition which I read over in his House at Lacies-Court in Abingdon but I had not then either the leisure or good luck to transcribe a Copy of it which would have been worth my pains and more worthy of the Press to the great satisfaction of others For my part I can truly say that I never read any thing with more delight for good Latin Reason and History which that Exercise was full of but since both it and many other choice Papers in his Study through the carelesness of those to whose custody they are committed I suppose are utterly lost and gone ad blattarum tinearum Epulas In stating of the first Question that caused the heats of that day he fell upon a quite different way from that of Dr. Prideaux the Professor in his Lecture De Visibilitate Ecclesiae and contrary to the common opinion of other Divines who generally prove the visibility of the Protestant Church from the poor persecuted Christians dispersed in several places as the Berengarians in Italy the Waldenses in France the Wicklifists in England and the Hussiets in Bohemia which manner of proceeding being disliked by Mr. Heylyn as that which utterly discontinued the Succession of the Hierarchy which the Church of England claims from the very Apostles and their immediate Successors He rather chose to find out a continual visible Church in Asia Ethiopia Greece Italy yea and Rome it self as also in all the Western Provinces then subject to the power of the Roman Bishop when he was the chief Patriarch which Mr. Heylyn from his great knowledge and more than ordinary abilities in History strenuously asserted and proved to which the Professor could make but weak replies as I have heard from knowing persons who were present at that Disputation because he was drawn out of his ordinany byass from Scholastical Disputation to forein Histories in which encounter Mr. Heylyn was the invincible Ajax Nec quisquam Ajacem superare possit nisi Ajax But chiefly the quarrel did arise for two words in Mr. Heylyns Hypothesis after he had proved the Church of England received no Succession of Doctrine or Government from the Berengarians Wicklifists c. who held many Heterodoxies in Religion as different from the established Doctrine of our Church as any point which was maintained at that time in the Church of Rome that the Writers of that Church Bellarmin himself hath stood up as cordially in maintenance of some fundamental points of the Christian Faith against Anti-Trinitarians Anabaptists and other Heretiques of these last Ages as any our Divines and other Learned men of the Protestant Churches which point Mr. Heylyn closed up with these words Vtinam quod ipse de Calvino sic semper errasset nobilissimus Cardinalis at which words the Reverend Doctor was so impatient in his Chair that he fell upon the Respondent in most vile terms calling him Papicola Bellarminianus Pontificius c. to draw the hatred of the University upon him according to the saying Fortiter calumniare aliquid adhaerebit grievously complaining to the younger sort of his Auditors unto whom he made his chiefest addresses of the unprofitable pains he took among them if Bellarmin whom he had laboured to confute for so many years should be honoured with the Title of Nobilissimus Notwithstanding the Respondent acquitted himself bravely before the Company ascribing no more honour to Bellarmin
be placed according to ancient custom at the East end of the Chancel and railed about decently to prevent base and profane usages and where the Chancel wanted any thing of repairs or the Church it self both to be amended Having thus shewed his care first for the House of God to set it in good order the next work followed was to make his own dwelling House a fit and convenient Habitation that to the old Building he added a new one which was far more graceful and made thereto a Chappel next to the Dining-room that was beautified and adorned with silk Hangings about the Altar in which Chappel himself or his Curate read Morning and Evening Prayer to the Family calling in his Labourers and Workfolks for he was seldom without them while he liv'd saying that he loved the noise of a Work-mans hammer for he thought it a deed of Charity as well as to please his own fancy by often building repairing to set poor People a work and encourage painful Artificers and Tradesmen in their honest Callings Yet after his death his Eldest Son was sued for Dilapidations in the Court of Arches by Dr. Beamont his Fathers Successor but the ingenious Gentleman pleaded his cause so notably before Sir Giles Swet then Judge of the Court that he was discharged there being no reason or justice he should be troubled for Dilapidations occasioned by the long War when his Father was unjustly turn'd out of his House and Living In July 1630. he took his Degree of Batchelor in Divinity His Latin Sermon was upon these words Mal. 4.19 Facim vos fieri piscatores hominum Upon the Sunday following being the time of the Act he Preach'd in the Afternoon on Matth. 13.25 In Feb. 13. A. D. 1633. He took his Degree of Dr. in Divinity an honour not usually in those days conferr'd upon men of such green years but our young Doctor verified those excellent words of the Son of Syrach That honourable Age is not that which standeth in length of time nor that is measured by number of years but Wisdom is the grey unto men and an unspotted life is an old Age Wisd 4.8 9. He entertain'd some hopes that Dr. Prideaux his animosities in so long a Tract of time as from 1627. to 1633. might have cooled In his first Disputation he had insisted on the Churches Visibility and now he resolved to assert and establish its Authority and to that purpose made choice to answer for his Degree upon these three questions viz. An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem In determinandis fidei controversus An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem Interpretandi S. scripturas An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem Decernendi Ritus Caeremonias All which he held in the Affirmative according to the Doctrine of the Church of England in the 20th Article But Dr. Prideaux was as little pleased with these questions and the Respondents stating of them as he was with the former And therefore to create unto the Respondent a greater odium he openly declared that the Respondent had falsified the publick Doctrine of the Church and changed the Article with that sentence viz. Habet Ecclesia ritus sive caeremonias c. which was not to be found in the whole body of it and for the proof thereof he read the Article out of a Book which lay before him beginning thus Non licet Ecclesiae quicquam instituere quod verbo Dei scripto adversetur c. To which the Respondent readily answered That he perceived by the bigness of the Book which lay on the Doctors Cushion that he had read that Article out of the harmony of Confessions published at Geneva A. D. 1612. which therein followed the Edition of the Articles in the time of King Edward VI. A.D. 1552. in which that sentence was not found but that it was otherwise in the Articles agreed on in the Convocation A. D. 1562. The Respondent caused the Book of Articles to be sent for out of the Book-sellers shop which being observed by the Doctor he declared himself very willing to decline any further prosecution of that particular But Dr. Heylyn was resolved to proceed on no further Vsquedum liberaverit animam suam ab ista calumnia as his own words were At the coming in of the Book the Respondent read the Article in the English Tongue viz. The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith c. Which done he delivered the Book to one of the Standers by who desired it of him the Book passing from one hand to another till all men were satisfied The Regius Professor had no other subterfuge but this He went to prove that not the Convocation but the High Court of Parliament had power of ordering matters in the Church in making Canons ordaining Ceremonies and determining Controversies in Religion And he could find no other medium to make it good but the Authority of Sir Edward Coke in one of the Books of his Reports An Argument that Dr. Heylyn gratified with no better answer than Non Credendum est cuique extra suam artem For these things and the Professors ill words in the former Disputation Dr. Heylyn caused him to be brought before the Council Table at Woodstock where he was publickly reprehended And upon the coming out of the Kings Declaration concerning lawful sports Dr. Heylyn translated the Regius Professors Lecture upon the Sabbath into English and putting a Preface before it caused it to be Printed a performance which did not only justifie his Majesties proceedings but took off much of that opinion which Dr. Prideaux had amongst the Puritanical Faction in those days A. D. 1634. The grievances which the Collegiate Church of Westminster suffered under the Government of John Lord Bishop of Lincoln then Commendatory Dean thereof became so intolerable that Dr. Heylyn with Dr. Tho. Wilson Dr. Gabriel Moor and Dr. Lud. Wemys with other of the Prebends drew up a Charge of no less than 36 Articles against the Bishop and by way of complaint humbly Petitioned his Majesty for redress of these grievances Whereupon a Commission was issued out to the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York the Earl of Manchester Earl of Portland the Lord Bishop of London and the two Secretaries of State Authorizing them to hold a Visitation of the Church of Westminster to examine the particular Charges made against John Lord Bishop of Lincoln who afterwards calling the Prebends to meet him in the Jerusalem-Chamber desired to know of them what these things were that were amiss that so he might presently redress them But to that Dr. Heylyn replied that seeing they had put the business into his Majesties hands it would but ill become them to take the matters out of his into their own Amongst other grievances the Bishop had most disgracefully turned out the Prebends of the great Seat or Pew under the Pulpit Dr. Heylyn being chosen Advocate for his Brothren did prove before
door went streight-way to Oxford and informed the Governor Colonel Kelsey that his Master had received Letters from the King whereupon the Governour sent a party of Horse to fetch him away Strange news it was knowing his own innocence to hear that Soldiers had beset his House so early in the Morning before he was out of bed But go he must to appear before the Governour and when he came that treacherous Rogue his Man did confidently affirm that he heard the Letters read and was sure he could remember the very words if his Master would produce the Letters upon which the Doctor relates the whole story to the Governour and withal shews the Diurnal which the Governor read to the Fellow often asking him is this right is this the same you heard to whom he answered yes Sir yes that is the very thing and those words I remember upon which the Governor caused him to be soundly whipt instead of giving him a reward for Intelligence and dismiss'd the Doctor with some Complements ordering the same party of Horse that fetcht him to wait upon him home Being thus delivered from the Treachery of this Servant his great care was to provide one more faithful which the good Lady Wainman his Neighbour hearing of commended to him one of her own Servants whom Sir Francis her Husband had bred up from a Child whose fidelity he need not fear in the worst of times when a mans Enemies may be of his own Houshold as Q. Vibius Serenus was betrayed by his own Son Reus pater accusator filius Tac. Annal. lib. 4. idem index testis saith the Historian The Son was both Accuser and Witness against the Father In the year 1653. he removed to Lacies-Court in Abingdon which Seat he bought for the pleasantness of its Situation standing next the Fields and not distant above five miles from Oxford where he might be furnished with Books at his pleasure either from the Book-sellers Shops or the Bodleian-Library for such a fresh appetite to Study and Writing he still retained in his old Age that he would give his mind no time of vacancy and intermission for those labours in which he was continually exercised When Monarchy and Episcopacy was trodden under foot then did he stand up a Champion in defence of both and feared not to Publish The Stumbling block of Disobedience and his Certamen Epistolare in which Mr. Baxter fled the Field because there was impar congressus betwixt him and as I may say an old Soldier of the Kings who had been used to fiercer Combats with more famous Goliahs Also Mr. Thomas Fuller was sufficiently chastized for his Church History as he deserved a most sharp correction because he had been a Son of the Church of England in the time of her prosperity and now deserted her in her adverse fortune and took to the Adversaries side And it was then my hap having some business with Mr. Taylor Fellow of Lincoln College in Oxon and then Chaplain to the Lord Keeper Mr. Nathaniel Fiennes to see Mr. Fuller make a fawning address to my Lord with his great Book of Church History hugged under his arm which he presented to the Keeper after an uncouth rustical manner Epis 13. as Horace describeth Sub ala fasciculum portas Librorum ut rusticus agnum The many falsities defects and mistakes of that Book the Doctor discovered and refuted of which Mr. Fuller afterward being ingeniously ashamed came to the Doctors House in Abingdon where he made his peace both became very good Friends and betwixt them for the future was kept an inviolable bond of Friendship In the year 1656. he Printed some Observations upon the History of the Reign of King Charles by H. L. Esq with whom he dealt very candidly and modestly corrected some of his mistakes in most mild and amicable terms telling him viz. Between us both the History will be made more perfect and consequently the Reader will be better satisfied Obser Epist Ded. which makes me somewhat confident that these few Notes will be so far from making your History less vendible than it was before that they will very much advantage and promote the sale And if I can do good to all without wrong to any I hope no man can be offended with my pains and industry In answer to which Mr. Hammond L'Estrange led by his passion and not by reason fell upon the Doctor in such uncivil words unbecoming a Gentleman that as the Doctor saith he never was accustomed to such Billinsgate language There was indeed a time saith he when my name was almost in every Libel Extr. cap. Epist which exercised the patience of the State for seven years together and yet I dare confidently say that all of them together did not vomit so much filth upon me as hath proceeded from the mouth of the Pamphleter whom I have in hand Therefore the Doctor returned a quick and sharp reply in his Book Entituled Extraneus Vapulans wherein with admired wit and eloquence he gave Mr. L'Estrange a most severe yet civil correction In the year 1657. he put out in Print Ecclesia Vindicata or the Church of England justified which he dedicated as a grateful testimony of his mind to his Master then living Mr. Edward Davis formerly School-master of Burford and now Vicar of Shelton in the County of Berks to whom he ever shewed a Love and Reverence and had the Doctors power been answerable to his will and intention he had design'd more considerable Preferments for him but the sudden and unexpected alteration in his own affairs prevented so soon almost as himself was preferred that he could shew no other specimen of his gratitude What saith the Heathen Diis parentibus praeceptoribus non redditur aequivalens An amends can never be made to God our Parents and Tutors and certainly he hath but little of a Christian in him that can forget this lesson yet some are so unnatural as the Child that loveth not his Nurse About the same time he was harassed before Olivers Major General for the decimation of his Estate he thinking there had been an end of those troubles by compounding for his Estate in Goldsmiths-Hall he argued his Case notably with them but all in vain for Arguments though never so acutely handled are obtuse weapons against the edge of the sword One Captain Allen formerly a Tinker and his Wife a poor Tripe-wife took upon him to reprove the Doctor for maintaining his Wife so highly like a Lady to whom the Doctor roundly replied That he had Married a Gentlewoman and did maintain her according to her quality and so might he his Tripe-wife adding withal that this rule he always observed For his Wife to go above his Estate his Children according to his Estate and himself below his Estate so that at the years end he could make all even Soon after these things came out the Order for Decimation against him Notwithstanding which
the Doctor like the Palm-Tree Crescit sub pondere virtus the more he was press'd with those heavy loads did flourish and grow up in his Estate that through the blessing of God being neither the subject of any mans envy nor the object of their pitty he lived in good Credit and kept a noble House for I my self being often there can say I have seldom seen him sit down at his Table without Company for being nigh the University some out of a desire to be acquainted with him and others to visit their old Friend whom they knew rarely could be seen but at Meals made choice of that time to converse with him And likewise his good Neighbours at Abingdon whom he always made welcome and was ready to assist them in their Parish-business or upon any other occasion particularly in upholding upholding the Church of S. Nicholas which otherwise would have been pulled down on pretence of uniting it to S. Ellens but in truth to disable the sober Party of the Town who were Loyal People from enjoying their wonted Service and Worship of God in their own Parish Church of which they had a Reverend and Orthodox Man one Mr. Huish their Minister and in his absence the Doctor took care to get them supplied with able men from Oxford Great endeavors were on both sides the one Party to preserve the Church and the other to pull it down because it was thronged with Malignants who seduced others from their godly way as Religion always hath been the pretence of factious minds to draw on others to their Party Ubbr Emm. Hist Fris as one saith well Sua quisque arma sancta praedicat suam causam religiosam Deus pietas cultus divinus praetexuntur Every one proclaimeth their own quarrels to be be a Holy War the Cause Religion God Godliness and Divine worship must be pretended Several Journeys the Doctor took to London sparing neither his pains nor purse in so pious a Cause for the managing of which he employed divers Solicitors somtimes before Committees at other times before Olivers Council where it was carried dubiously and rather inclining to the other side at which the Presbyterian-Party made the Bells to be rung and Bonfires in the Town to express their joy triumphing in the ruin of a poor Church but the day was not so clearly their own as they imagined for the Church yet stood against all its Enemies God protecting his own House and his Servants that were zealous for it in a time when they could look for little favor from the Powers that then ruled who had not so much respect for Gods House as the Heathens had for their Idol Temples and for those that Vindicated them Justin lib. 8. as Justin saith on this occasion Diis proximus habetur per quem deorum majestas vindicata sit for which he praiseth Philip of Macedon calling him Vindicem Sacrilegii ultorem religionum c. During those troubles Mr. Huish Minister of the Church durst not go on in his Ministerial duties which the Doctor no sooner heard of but to animate and encourage him he writ a pious Letter a Copy of which I then transcribed which is as followeth and worth the inserting here SIR WE are much beholden to you for your chearful condescending unto our desires so far as to the Lords-days Service which though it be opus diei in die suo yet we cannot think our selves to be fully Masters of our Requests till you have yielded to bestow your pains on the other days also We hope in reasonable time to alter the condition of Mr. Blackwels pious gift that without hazarding the loss of his Donation which would be an irrecoverable blow to this poor Parish you may sue out your quietus est from that daily attendance unless you find some further motives and inducements to persuade you to it yet so to alter it that there shall be no greater wrong done to his intentions than to most part of the Founders in each Vniversity by changing Prayers for the souls first by them intended into a Commemoration of their bounties as was practised All dispositions of this kind must vary with those changes which befal the Church or else be alienated and estranged to other purposes I know it must needs be some discouagement to you to read to Walls or to pray in publick with so thin a Company as hardly will amount to a Congregation But withal I desire you to consider that magis minus all Logicians say do not change the species of things that quantities of themselves are of little efficacy if at all of any and that he who promised to be in the midst of two or three when they meet together in his Name hath clearly shewed that even the smallest Congregations shall not want his presence and why then should we think much to bestow our pains where he vouchsafeth his presence or think our labour ill bestowed if some few only do partake of the present benefit And yet no doubt the benefit extends to more than the parties present for you know well that the Priest or Minister is not only to pray with but for the people that he is not only to offer up the peoples Prayers to Almighty God but to offer up his own Prayers for them the benefit whereof may charitably be presumed to extend to as well as it was intended for the absent also And if a whole Nation may be represented in a Parliament of four hundred persons and they derive the blessings of Peace and Comfort upon all the Land why may we not conceive that God will look on three or four of this little Parish as the Representative of the whole and for their sakes extend his Grace and Blessings unto all the rest that he who would have saved that sinful City of Sodom had he found but ten righteous persons in it may not vouchsafe to bless a less sinful people upon the prayers of a like or less number of pious and religious persons When the High-Priest went into the Sanctum Sanctorum to make atonement for the sins of the people went he not thither by himself none of the people being suffered to enter into that place Do not we read that when Zacharias offered up Incense which figured the Prayers of the Saints within the Temple the people waited all that while in the outward Courts or find we any where that the Priest who offered up the daily sacrifice and this comes nearest to our case did ever intermit that Office by reason of the slackness and indevotion of the people in repairing to it But you will say there is a Lion in the way there is danger in it Assuredly I hope none at all or if any none that you would care for The Sword of the Committee had as sharp an edge and was managed with as strong a malice as any ordinance of later Date can empower men with Having so fortunately escaped the danger of
Examination of the mistakes falsities and defects in some modern Histories Lond. 1659. Certamen Epistolare or the Letter-Combat managed with Mr. Baxter Dr. Bernard Mr. Hickman 8. Lond. 1659. Historia Quinqu-Articularis 4. Lond. 1660. Respondet Petrus or the Answer of Peter Heylyn D. D. to Dr. Bernards book entituled The Judgment of the late Primate c. Lond. 4. 1658. Observations on Mr. Hammond L' Estranges History of the Life of King Charles I. 1658. Extraneus Vapulans or a Defence of those Observations Lond. 1658. A short History of King Charles the First from his Cradle to his Grave 1658. Thirteen Sermons some of which are an Exposition of the Parable of the Tares printed at London 1659 and again 1661. A help to English History containing a succession of all the Kings Dukes Marquesses Earls Bishops c. of England and Wales first written in the Year 1641 under the name of Robert Hall but now enlarged and in Dr. Heylyns name Ecclesia Vindicata or the Church of England Justified c. 4. 1657. Bibliotheca Regia or the Royal Library 8. Ecclesia Restaurata or the History of the Reformation Fol. Lond. 1661. Cyprianus Anglicus or the History of the Life and Death of William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury Fol. Aerius Redivivus or the History of the Presbyterians Fol. ECCLESIA VINDICATA OR THE Church of England JUSTIFIED I. In the Way and Manner of her Reformation II. In Officiating by a Publick Liturgy III. In prescribing a Set Form of Prayer to be used by Preachers before their Sermons IV. In her Right and Patrimony of Tithes V. In retaining the Episcopal Government And therewith VI. The Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons By PETER HEYLIN D. D. PSAL. CXXXVI 6 7. Si oblitus fuero tui O Jerusalem oblivioni detur dextra med Adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis si non proposuero tui in principio laetitiae meae LONDON Printed by M. Clark for C. Harper 1681. A General Preface TO THE READER CONCERNING The Design and Method of the following WORK 1. The Authors Address to those of the same persuasion with him 2. As also to those of different Opinion 3. His humble application to all such as be in Authority 4. Persecution a true note of the Church verified in the Jews the primitive Christians and the Church of England 5. The several Quarrels of the Genevians and Papists against the way and manner of our Reformation 6. The Authors Method and Design in answering the Clamors and Objections of either party 7. The first Quarrels against the Liturgies of King Edward the sixth and the grounds thereof 8. The Liturgy of Queen Elizabeth approved by the Pope subscribed by the Scots and the Church frequented by the Papists for the first ten years of that Queens reign 9. The Puritans and Papists separate from the Church at the same time and the hot pursuance of this Quarrel by the Puritan party 10. The Quarrel after some repose revived by the Smectymnuans and their actings in it 11. The Author undertakes the Defence of Liturgies as also the Times and Places of Publick Worship against all Opponents unto each 12. The Prayer prescribed to be used by Preachers before their Sermons the reasons why it was prescribed and the Church justified for so doing in a Brief Discourse upon that subject of the Authors making 13. An Answer to the Objection touching the free exercise of the Gift of Prayer 14. Set Forms of Prayer condemned in Churches by the Devisers of the Directory and prescribed for Ships 15. The Liturgy cryed down by the Lay-Brethren in Order to the taking away of Tithes 16. The same Design renewed by some late Projectors the Author undertakes against them and his Reasons for it 17. The first Bishops of Queen Elizabeths time quarrelled by the Papists and the grounds thereof 18. Covetousness and Ambition in the Presbyterians the two main grounds of their Pursuit against Episcopacy 19. Set on by Calvin and Beza they break out into action their violent proceedings in it and cessation from it 20. The Quarrel reassumed by the Smectymnuans outwitted in the close thereof by the Lay-Brethren without obtaining their own ends in advancing Presbytery 21. The Author undertakes against Smectymnuus and proves Episcopacy to be agreeable to all Forms of Civil Government 22. His History of Episcopacy grounded on the Authority of the Ancient Fathers and what the Reader is desired in Relation to them 23. Ordination by the Imposition of Hands generally in use in all Churches and how the Ordinance of March 20. 1653. is to be understood as to that particular 24. No Ordination lawful but by Bishops and what the Author hath done in it 25. The close of all and the submission of the whole to the Readers judgment READER of what persuasion or condition soever thou art I here present and submit unto thee these ensuing Tracts If thou art of the same persuasion and opinion with me I doubt not but thou wilt interpret favourably of my Undertakings and find much comfort in thy Soul for thy Adhesion to a Church so rightly constituted so warrantably reformed so punctually modelled by the pattern of the purest and most happy times of Christianity A Church which for her Power and Polity her sacred Offices and Administrations hath not alone the grounds of Scripture the testimony of Antiquity and consent of Fathers but as good countenance and support as the Established Laws of the Land could give her which Laws if they be still in force as they seem to be thy sufferings for adhering to the Church in her Forms and Government may not improperly be said to have faln upon thee for thy obedience and conformity to the Laws themselves Smectym Answ 85. For though it may be supposed with the Smectymnians the Author of The True Cavalier c. and some other of our modern Politicks that Government and Forms of Worship are but matters of humane appointment and being such may lawfully abrogated by the same Authority by which at first they were Established yet then it must be still by the same Authority and not by any other which is less sufficient for that end and purpose And I presume it will not be affirmed by any that an Ordinance of the Lords and Commons occasionally made and fitted for some present exigent is of as good authority as an Act of Parliament made by the King with the consent and approbation of the three Estates in due form of Law Or if it be I would then very fain know the reason why the Ordinance of the third of January Anno 1644. should be in force as to the taking away of the Book of Common Prayer and yet be absolutely void or of no effect as to the establishing and imposing of the Directory thereby authorized which bears an equal share in the title of it or why the Ordinance of the ninth of October Anno 1646. for abolishing Arch-bishops and Bishops should be still in
credit and yet so many Ordinances for setling the Presbyterian Government in order whereunto the Hierarchy of Bishops was to be abolished should be as short lived as Jonas's Goard Plautus in Pseudolo or the solstitial Herb in Plautus Quae repentino orta est repentino occidit blasted as soon as sprung up without acting any thing and finally why so many of the Clergy should still stand sequestred by Order from the Committees of both Houses of Parliament and yet the Orders of those Houses as to the recovering of their fifths should be void and null So that thy Judgment and Affection being so well bottomed thy Conscience cannot but bear thee witness that thou hast not suffered as a Malefactor a Violator of the Laws a contemner of Order or a Despiser of Dominion which will be a contentment to thee in thy greatest sorrows Lactant. lib. 1. cap. 1. above all expression Delectabit tamen se Conscientia quod est Animae pabulum incredibile jucunditate perfusum as Lactantius hath it If thou art otherwise persuaded and of a different judgment from me in the main Disputes yet I desire thee notwithstanding to peruse these papers and to peruse them with that Candor and Christian Charity which we ought to have about us in the agitation of all weighty Controversies I despair not but that thou maist here meet with something which may inform thy Understanding and rectifie the obliquity of those misconceptions which thou hast harboured heretofore against this Church the way and manner of proceeding in her Reformation her Government and Establish'd Orders in Gods publick service her Right and Title to that setled Maintenance which is reserved to those who officiate in her Te quoque in his Aliquid quod juvet esse potest in the Poets Language Ovid in Phaedra ad Hippolyt Howsoever I hope thou art not of those men who hate to be reformed or stop their ears like the deaf Adder in the Psalms that so they may not hear the voice of the Charmer but hast a malleable soul and capable of all impressions tending unto peace and truth And then I shall be confident of this favour from thee that if thou canst not find good reason to change thy judgment and alter thy opinion in the points disputed yet thou wilt hereafter think more charitably of those poor Men who cannot sail with every wind of new Opinion nor easily wean themselves from those persuasions which they have suckt in as it were with their Mothers milk If thou art strong and canst digest all meats which are set before thee condemn not those of weaker stomachs who have been used unto a Regular and strict kind of Diet. But if thou art not only of a different Opinion from me but differing in Condition also advanced perhaps unto some eminent degree of Trust and Power in the present Government I must address my self unto thee in another way I must then say to thee as did Tertullian once to the Roman Senators that since there is no means in the way of a personal Defence to vindicate the Church and clear her Children from all those Calumnies and imputations which are charged upon them Liceat veritati vel occulta via tacitarum literarum ad aures vestras pervenire Tertul. in Apologet cap. 2. I hope it may be lawful for the Truth to appear before you by the humble and modest way of a Declaration For what hath been the cause of our great Disturbances but the want of a right Understanding of those Grounds and Principles upon which the Church of England was first reformed or of those greater Animosities those Odia plus quam Vatiniana exprest towards such as are most cordially affected to her Rules and Tendries The Men themselves known generally to be both of Parts and Piety many of them possest of liberal Fortunes and all responsal to the Publick in all those capacities in which they may do service to it And can it rationally be conceived that either wilfulness or perversness or a vainglorious affectation of adhering to their old Mumpsimus as King Harry used to say in another case could make them run the hazzard of all which is dear unto them were there not some inward principle of Conscience and light of Understanding to incline them to it Or that they can suppose themselves to equally dealt with in being debard from serving God in that way of Worship and under those Forms of Administration which they find countenanced and commended to them by as good Authority as the Established Laws of the Land could give them and in the mean time that all sorts of Sects and Heresies destructive of all civil Magistracy and Humane Society should find not only a Connivence but Support and Countenance And if this cannot be conceived how canst thou answer it to thy self or to God and Man that they who live so peaceably and inoffensively in their several stations as not to be reproach'd with any disaffection to the present Government in word or deed should notwithstanding be mark'd out to continual Ruin because supposed to be of different Principles and Persuasions from some of those who have such powerful influences on the publick Counsels For thy sake therefore not for theirs only have I took this pains and drawn these several Tracts together that being perfectly instructed in the grounds of their affections and the right constitution of the Church their common Mother thou maist not only carry a more gentle hand towards those who have adher'd unto it but be more tenderly affected to the Church it self which hitherto hath met with so much contradiction from unquiet men And to say truth were there no other Arguments to prove the Church of England to be a true Catholick and Apostolick Church this were sufficient to evince it that it hath been always under persecution which the whole tenor of the Scriptures and the ancient Monuments of Christianity have given us as a mark or character of the Church of God No sooner had the Israelites freed themselves from the bondage of Egypt but they were presently pursued and forced through the Red Sea by the Host of Pharaoh nor had they sooner escaped that danger by Gods Almighty power but the Amalekites set upon them the Moabites set themselves against them and Balaam the son of Beor is hired to curse them hated by all the Nations amongst whom they lived derided for their Sabbath and Circumcision Recutitaque Sabbata palles as the Satyrist hath it and for their other Rites and Ceremonies in which they differed from the rest of their neighbouring Nations Their Laws are diverse from all people Hest 3.8 Tacit Hist lib. 5. saith Haman in the Book of Hester Novi illis Ritus coeterisque mortalibus contrarii as it is in Tacitus therefore to be exterminated as Enemies unto Civil Government and to all mankind Thus did it also fare with the Primitive Christians as soon as they had separated
themselves from the Jewish Synagogue exposed to all the disadvantages of scorn and danger both by Jews and Gentiles For as concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against so said the Jews to Paul at his coming to Rome Acts 28. â—2 Tacitus in Annal lib. XV. Homines per flagitia invisi as much about the same time the same Tacitus calls them and therefore odio humani generis convicti obnoxious to the common hatred of all men as it after followeth Persecuted upon this account by the Roman Emperors reviled by the malicious Pens of Celsus Prophyry Lucian Julian and the rest of that Rabble Thus also hath it happened to the Church of England No sooner had King Harry freed her from the Bondage of Rome but the proud Pharaohs of that City pursued him presently with their fulminations endeavouring to raise up all the Princes of the Earth against him nor had she sooner purged her self of those superstitions and corruptions which had been put upon her in the time of that Bondage but many hundreds of her children were forcibly driven through the Red Sea a Sea of their own blood to the Heavenly Canaan Persecuted after this in forein parts by the Inquisition at home by the malitious pens and practices of that dangerous Enemy And as if this had not been enough for her affliction her Bowels must be torn out by those very children which she had nourished in the faith though afterwards they scorned to own her for their Mother The first thing quarrelled on both sides is the Way and manner of her Reformation which is affirmed by those of Rome to have too little of the Pope and too much of the Parliament by those of the Genevian party to have too little of the People and too much of the Prince The Genevians or Presbyterians find themselves agrieved that in the agitating of this great Business there was no such consideration had of the common People as in other places their Lay-Elders being allowed no Vote either in the Consistory or the Convocation and consequently no care taken of the Peoples Interess which in a matter which so nearly concerned their souls was as great as any applauding for this cause the riotous proceedings in some other Countreys where the People threw down Altars defaced Images and in a pious zeal no doubt demolisht Churches laying thereby the ground-work of a more thorow Reformation than was made with us The Romanists do complain as loudly that this great Work was wholly carried on by the power of Parliaments And hereupon it is affirmed by D. Harding the first that took up Arms against this Church in Queen Elizabeths time that we had a Parliament-Religion a Parliament-Faith and a Parliament-Gospel as by Scultingius and some others that we had none but Parliament-Bishops and a Parliament-Clergy Two Clamors so repugnant unto one another that if the one of them be true the other cannot chuse but be very false And thus again the Papists generally object that in that great work of the Reformation there was no care taken of the Pope neither consulted with as the Patriarch of the Western Churches or as the Apostle at the least of the English Nation the Pope thereby unworthily deprived of that Supremacy which of antient Right belong'd unto him to the subverting of the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith Primo praecipuo Romanensium fidei articulo de Pontificis primatu immutato Hist Concil Trident. lib. 1. as my Author hath it Calvin and his Disciples on the other side are as much offended with setling the Supremacy upon the King the Master grievously complaining of it in his Comment on the 7th of Amos Calvin in Amos cap. 7. his Scholars doing the like in their several Pamphlets And though it be affirmed by Bracton one of our ancient Common Lawyers if my memory fail not that Kings are therefore anointed with holy Oyl Eo quod spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces because they are capable of exercising Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction yet Calvin will have none of that condemning those for rash and inconsiderate Persons Qui faciunt eos nimis Spirituales who ascribe to them any such Authority in Spiritual matters His Followers will take after him in this particular none more professedly and at large than Caldwood or Didoclavius as he calls himself and his Associates in the Altare Damascenum To satisfie the Clamors of these opposite parties and to appease some Scruples raised thereby in Mr. G. A. of W a modest and ingenuous Gentleman my especial friend I set my self in the first place to justifie the Church of England as to the Way and Manner of her Reformation so loudly and so falsly clamoured on so little ground And by this Tract it will be proved that nothing was done here in the Reformation but what was acted by the Clergy in their Convocations or grounded on some Act of theirs precedent to it with the Advice Counsel and Consent of the Bishops and other learned men assembled by the Kings appointment and secondly that the Parliaments did nothing in it but that sometimes upon the Post-fact it was thought fit to add some strength to the Decrees and Determinations of the Church especially in inflicting punishments on the Disobedient by the Civil Sanctions And for the proof of this I have used none but Domestick Evidences that is to say the Edicts of the King the Records of Convocation and the Acts of Parliaments themselves the best assurances that can be devised in Law to convey the Truth unto us in all these particulars In the next place I have endeavoured to give satisfaction unto all those Doubts which do relate unto the King the Pope or the Churches Protestant the riotous actings of the Common People being no good ground to build a Right on either too little or too much look'd after as it is pretended in that weighty business Whose pretensions being well examined by the Testimony of the Fathers Councils and other Ecclesiastical Antiquities I hope it will appear as clearly that there was no wrong done either to the Pope or the Forein Churches in being excluded from our Councils in so great a work and that our Kings have exercised no other power in sacred matters than what is warranted unto them by the word of God and precedented with the best examples of the most godly Kings of Judah and the most pious Kings and Emperors in the happiest times Nothing in all the Managery of the Reformation but what is justifiable by the practice of the former Ages and may be drawn into Example for the Instruction and Direction of the present Powers in all occasions of like natue The next thing faulted on both sides is the publick Liturgy condemned by those of Rome first for abolishing the Mass and then for being published and communicated in the vulgar Tongue by those of the Genevian party for having too much in it of the Roman
the Jews or Christians Considering therefore they appeal'd to the ancient practice of the Jews and Christians I was resolved that to the ancient practice they should go for their justification and to that end drew down the Pedigree and Descent of Liturgies among the Jews from the time of Moses unto CHRIST carrying it on thorow the constant practice of the Greeks and Romans and finally thorow the whole state of the Christian Church from the time of CHRIST our Saviour till the death of Saint Augustin when Liturgies and Set Forms of Prayer were universally received in all parts of Christendom But hardly had I finished my Undertaking Plutarch in Mario when the War broke out and I knew well as Marius was once heard to say in another case That the voice of the Laws could not be heard for the noise of Weapons the Dispute being then like to be determin'd by stronger Arguments than could be urged on either side by pen and paper On which consideration the Work lay by me as it was till the Ordinance of the third of January 1644. did seem to put an end to the Disputation by abolishing the Book of Common Prayer and authorizing the Directory or New Form of Worship to be observed in the three Kingdoms But finding in that Directory that all set times of Publick Worship were reduced to One that one supposed to be commanded in the Scripture and that the Festival days vulgarly called Holy-days Direct pag. ult having no warrant in the Word of God were not to be continued longer I took that hint or opportunity to enlarge my self in laying down the ancient practice both of Jews and Christians in appointing Holy-days and recommending them to the pious practice of all men which did desire to live conformably to establisht Laws And finding afterwards that notwithstanding the Care taken by that Directory That Places of publick assembling for worship among us should be continued and employed to their former use Ibid. some Men began to threaten them with a speedy destruction and breathed out nothing but Down with them Down with them even unto the ground reproaching them in the mean time with the name of Steeple-houses I interserted also in convenient places the pious care of the Jewish Nation in erecting Synagogues and Oratories for Gods publick Worship and of the Primitive Christians not to say any thing of the like care in the ancient Gentiles in building consecrating and adorning Churches for the like employments And this I did to let the Reader understand that the accustomed times and places which were designed and set apart for Gods publick service had more authority to rest on than those Men gave out the Liturgy it self being apt enough to be beaten down without any such Ordinance if once those times and places should be discontinued By these degrees and on these several occasions the whole Work came to that perfection in which it is now presented to thee not to be now presented to thee neither if the necessity of doing my Duty unto God and the Church and offering something unto the consideration of the Higher Powers had not prevailed with me above all respects of my private interest Liturgies and Set Forms of Worship being thus asserted my next care was to vindicate the Church in that Form of Prayer which is prescribed to be used by Preachers before their Sermons Can. 55. For certainly the Church had not sufficiently provided for the Common peace if she had tied her Ministers to Set Forms in the Daily Office and left them to their own liberty in conceiving Prayers to be used by them in the Pulpit before their Sermons The inconvenience which that liberty hath brought upon us in these latter days being so apparent that it is very hard to say whether the Liberty of Prophesying or the Licenciousness in Praying what and how we list hath more conduced to these distractions which are now amongst us And if there were no such effect too visible of this licentiousness which I desire the present State to take notice of the scandal which is thereby given unto our Religion in speaking so irreverently with such vain repetitions and tautologies to Almighty God as in extemporary and unpremeditated Prayers is too frequently done seems a sufficient consideration to bring us back again to that ancient Form which the wisdom of the Church prescribed to prevent the Mischief Such was the care and providence of the elder times and happiest ages of the Church as to ordain that no unlearned person should make use of any of those Prayers which himself had framed nisi prius eas cum instructioribus fratribus contulerit Concil Carthag Can. 23. before he had conferred about them with more learned men The reason of which is thus given in the Council of Milevis Can. 12. Ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum for fear lest any thing should escape them against faith and piety either through the ignorance of the Composer or carelesness in the Composition And if such care were taken of Mens private Prayers no question but a greater care is to be observed in ordering those publick Prayers which are to be offered unto God in the Congregation Never did Men so literally offer unto God the Calves of their lips as they have done of late since the extemporary way of Praying hath been taken up And if it were prohibited by the Law of Moses to offer any thing unto God in the way of the legal Sacrifices which was maim'd spotted or imperfect how can it rationally be conceived that God should be delighted with those Oblations or Spiritual Sacrifices which have nothing almost in them but maims spots and blemishes In which respect I have subjoyned to the Tract of Liturgies a brief Discourse about restraining Preachers to that Form of Prayer which is prescribed them by the Church and that not only in the Canon of 603. but in the Injunction of King Harry the 8th King Edward the 6th and Queen Elizabeth of famous memories till the predominating Humour of drawing all Gods publick Worship to the Pulpit-prayer carried all before it But here it is to be observed that one of the chief reasons for abolishing the publick Liturgy was that the Ministers might put forth themselves to exercise the Gift of Prayer with which our Lord Jesus Christ pleaseth to furnish all his servants whom he calls to that Office Pref. to the Direct p. 2 3. and that nothing was less effected than the end intended For first the Directory which prescribes not alone the Heads but the sense and scope which is the whole matter of the Prayers and other parts of publick Worship Ibid. p. 4. doth in effect leave nothing to the Ministers spirit but the wording of it which if it be not a restraining of the Gift of Prayer I am much to seek the Spirit being as much restrained and
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-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
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
and the lawful Rights Ceremonies and Observations of the same by his Majesties advice and confirmation under the great Seal of England shall be by all his Graces Subjects fully believed obeyed observed and performed to all purposes and intents upon the pains and penalties therein to be comprized as if the same had been in express words and sentences plainly and fully made set forth declared and contained in the said Act 32 H. 8. c. 26. where note That the two Houses of Parliament were so far from medling in the matter which was then in hand that they did not so much as require to see the Determinations and Decrees of those Learned men whom his Majesty had then Assembled before they passed the present Act to bind the Subject fully to believe observe and perform the same but left it wholly to the judgment and discretion of the King and Clergy and trusted them besides with the ordaining and inflicting of such pains and penalties on disobedient and unconformable persons as to them seemed meet This ground-work laid the work went forwards in good order and at last being brought unto as much perfection as the said Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men would give it without the co-operation and concurrence of the Royal assent it was presented once again to the Kings consideration who very carefully perused it and altered many things with his own hand as appears by the Book it self still extant in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton and having so altered and corrected it in some passages returned it to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who bestowed some further pains upon it to the end that being to come forth in the King's Name and by his Authority there might be nothing in the same which might be justly reprehended The business being in this forwardness the King declares in Parliament Anno 1544. being the 34 year of his Reign his zeal and care not only to suppress all such Books and Writings as were noysome and pestilent and tended to the seducing of his Subjects but also to ordain and establish a certain Form of pure and sincere Teaching agreable to God's Word and the true Doctrine of the Catholick and Apostolick Church whereunto men may have recourse for the decision of some such controversies as have in Times past and yet do happen to arise And for a preparatory thereunto that so it might come forth with the greater credit he caused an Act to pass in Parliament for the abolishing of all Books and Writings comprizing any matters of Christian Religion contrary to that Doctrine which since the year 1540. is or any time during the King's life shall be set forth by his Highness and for the punishment of all such and that too with most grievous pains which should preach teach maintain or defend any matter or thing contrary to the Book of Doctrine which was then in readiness 34 35 H. 8. c. 1. Which done he caused the said Book to be Imprinted in the year next following under the Title of A necessary Doctrine for all sorts of People prefixing a Preface thereto in his Royal Name to all his faithful and loving Subjects that they might know the better in those dangerous Times what to believe in point of Doctrine and how they were to carry and behave themselves in points of Practice Which Statute as it is the greatest Evidence which those Times afford to shew that both or either of the Houses of Parliament had any thing to do in matters which concerned Religion so it entitles them to no more if at all to any thing then that they did make way to a Book of Doctrine which was before digested by the Clergy only revised after and corrected by the Kings own hand and finally perused and perfected by the Metropolitan And more then so besides that being but one Swallow it can make no Summer it is acknowledged and confessed in the Act it self if Poulton understand it rightly in his Abridgment That recourse must be had to the Catholick and Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies Which as it gives the Clergy the decisive power so it left nothing to the Houses but to assist and aid them with the Temporal Sword when the Spiritual Word could not do the deed the point thereof being blunted and the edge abated Next let us look upon the time of K. Ed. 6. and we shall find the Articles and Doctrine of the Church excepting such as were contained in the Book of Common-Prayer to be composed confirmed and setled in no other way then by the Clergy only in their Convocation the Kings Authority co-operating and concurring with them For in the Synod held in London Anno 1552. the Clergy did compose and agree upon a Book of Articles containing the chief Heads of the Christian Faith especially with reference to such Points of Controversie as were in difference between the Reformators of the Church of England and the Church of Rome and other Opponents whatsoever which after were approved and published by the Kings Authority They were in number 41. and were published by this following Title that is to say Articuli de quibus in Synodo London Anno 1552. ad tollendum opinionum dissentionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios Eruditis viros Convenerat Regia authoritate in lucem Editi And it is worth our observation that though the Parliament was held at the very time and that the Parliament passed several Acts which concerned Church-matters as viz. An Act for Vniformity of Divine Service and for the Confirmation of the Book of Ordination 5 and 6 Edw. 6. c. 1. An Act declaring which days only shall be kept for Holy days and which for Fasting days C. 3. against striking or drawing weapon either in the Church or Church-yard C. 4. And finally another Act for the legitimating of the Marriages of Priests and Ministers C. 12. Yet neither in this Parliament nor in that which followed is there so much as the least syllable which reflecteth this way or medleth any thing at all with the book of Articles Where by the way if you behold the lawfulness of Priests Marriages as a matter Doctrinal or think we owe that point of Doctrine and the indulgence granted to the Clergy in it to the care and goodness of the Parliament you may please to know that the point had been before determined in the Convocation and stands determined by and for the Clergy in the 31 of those Articles and that the Parliament looked not on it as a point of Doctrine but as it was a matter practical conducing to the benefit and improvement of the Common-wealth Or if it did yet was the Statute built on no other ground-work than the Resolution of the Clergy the Marriage of Priests being before determined to be most lawful I use the very words of the Act it self and according to the Word of God by the Learned Clergy of this realm
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
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
there being a specification of the Holy-days in the Book it self with this direction These to be observed for Holy-days and none other in which the Feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul and the Apostle Barnabas are omitted plainly and upon which specification the Stat. 5 6. Ed. 6. cap. 3. which concerns the Holy-days seems most expresly to be built And for the Offices on those days in the Common-prayer Book you may please to know that every Holy-day consisteth of two special parts that is to say rest or cessation from bodily labour and celebration of Divine or Religious duties and that the days before remembred are so far kept holy as to have still their proper and peculiar Offices which is observed in all the Cathedrals of this Kingdom and the Chappels Royal where the Service is read every day and in most Parish Churches also as oft as either of them falls upon a Sunday though the people be not in those days injoined to rest from bodily labour no more than on the Coronation-day or the Fifth of November which yet are reckoned by the people for a kind of Holy-days Put all which hath been said together and the sum is this That the proceedings of this Church in the Reformation were not meerly Regal as it is objected by some Puritans much less that they were Parliamentarian in so great a work as the Papists falsly charge upon us the Parliaments for the most part doing little in it but that they were directed in a justifiable way the work being done Synodically by the Clergy only according to the usage of the Primitive times the King concurring with them and corroborating what they had resolved on either by his own single Act in his letters Patent Proclamations and Injunctions or by some publick Act of State as in times and by Acts of Parliament 6. Of the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the directing of the People in the publick Duties of Religion WE are now come to the last part of this design unto the power of making Canons in which the Parliament of England have had less to do than in either of the other which are gone before Concerning which I must desire you to remember that the Clergy who had power before to make such Canons and Constitutions in their Convocation as to them seemed meet promised the King in verbo Sacerdotij not to Enact or Execute and new Canons but by his Majesties Royal Assent and by his Authority first obtained in that behalf which is thus briefly touched upon in the Ant. Brit. in the life of William Warham Arch Bishop of Canterbury Clerus in verbe Sacerdotij sidem Regi dedit ne ullas deinceps in Synodo ferrent Ecclesiasticas leges nisi Synodus authoritate Regia congregata constitutiones in Synodis publicatae eadem authoritate ratae essent Upon which ground I doubt not but I might securely raise this proposition That whatsoever the Clergy did or might do lawfully before the act of Submission in their Convocation of their own power without the Kings Authority and consent concurring the same they can and may do still since the act of their Submission the Kings Authority and consent co-operating with them in their Councils and giving confirmation to their Constitutions as was said before Further it doth appear by the asoresaid Act 25 H. 8. c. 19. That all such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial as were made before the said Submission which be not contrary or repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royal were to be used and executed as in former times And by the Statute 26 H. 8. c. 1. of the Kings Supremacy that according to the Recognition made in Convocation our said Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit repress reform order correct c. all such Errours Heresies Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever they be .c as may be most to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of virtue in Christs Religion and for the peace unity and tranquillity of this Realm and the confirmation of the same So that you see these several ways of ordering matters for the publick weal and governance of the Church First by such ancient Canons and Constitutions as being made in former times are still in force Secondly by such new Canons as are or shall be made in Convocation with and by the Kings consent And thirdly By the Authority of the Sovereign Prince according to the Precedents laid down in the Book of God and the best ages of the Church concerning which you must remember what was said before viz. That the Statutes which concern the Kings Supremacy are Declaratory of an old power only not Introductory of a new which said we shall the better see whether the Parliament have had any thing to do either in making Canons or prescribing Orders for the regulating of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical matters and unto whom the same doth of right belong according to the Laws of the Realm of England And first King Henry being restored to his Headship of Supremacy call it which you will did not conceive himself so absolute in it though at the first much enamoured of it as not sometimes to take his Convocation with him but at all times to be advised by his Prelates when he had any thing to do that concerned the Church for which there had been no provision made by the ancient Canons grounding most times his Edicts and Injunctions Royal upon their advice and resolution For on this ground I mean the judgement and conclusions of his Convocation did he set out the Injunctions of the year 1536. for the abolishing of superstitious Holy-days the exterminating of the Popes Authority the publishing of the Book of Articles which before we spake of num 8. by all Parsons Vicars and Curates for preaching down the use of Images Reliques Pilgrimages and superstitious Miracles for rehearsing openly in the Church in the English tongue the Creed the Pater noster and the Ten Commandments for the due and reverend ministring of the Sacraments and Sacramentals for providing English Bibles to be set in every Church for the use of the people for the regular and sober life of Clergy-men and the relief of the poor And on the other side the King proceeded sometimes only by the advice of his Prelates as in the injunctions of the year 1538. for quarterly Sermons in each Parish for admitting none to Preach but men sufficiently Licenced for keeping a Register-book of Christnings Weddings and Burials for the due paying of Tythes as had been accustomed for the abolishing of the commemoration of St. Thomas Becket for singing a Parce nobis Domine instead of Ora pro nobis and the like to these And of this sort were the Injunctions which
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
begin to intrench upon the Churches Rights to offer at and entertain such businesses as formerly were held peculiar to the Clergy only next to dispute their Charters and reverse their privileges and finally to impose some hard Laws upon them And of these notable incroachments Matthew Parker thus complains in the life of Cranmer Qua Ecclesiasticarum legum potestate abdicata populus in Parliamento coepit de rebus divinis inconsulto Clero Sancire tum absentis Cleri privilegia sensim detrahere juraque duriora quibus Clerus invitus teneretur Constituere But these were only tentamenta offers and undertakings only and no more than so Neither the Parliaments of K. Edward or Q. Elizabeths time knew what it was to make Committees for Religion or thought it fit that Vzzah should support the Ark though he saw it tottering That was a work belonging to the Levites only none of the other Tribes were to meddle with it But as the Puritan Faction grew more strong and active so they applyed themselves more openly to the Houses of Parliament but specially to the House of Commons putting all power into their hands as well in Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Causes as in matters Temporal This amongst others confidently affirmed by Mr. Pryn in the Epistle to his Book called Anti-Arminianism where he avers That all our Bishops our Ministers our Sacraments our Consecration our Articles of Religion our Homilies Common-prayer Book yea and all the Religion of the Church is no other way publickly received supported or established amongst us but by Acts of Parliament And this not only since the time of the Reformation but That Religion and Church affairs were determined ratified declared and ordered by Act of Parliament and no ways else even then when Popery and Church men had the greatest sway Which strange assertion falling from the pen of so great a Scribe was forthwith chearfully received amongst our Pharisees who hoped to have the highest places not only in the Synagogue but the Court of Sanhedrim advancing the Authority of Parliaments to so high a pitch that by degrees they fastened on them both an infallibility of judgment and an omniotency of power Nor can it be denied to deal truly with you but that they met with many apt Scholars in that House who either out of a desire to bring all the grist to their own Mill or willing to enlarge the great power of Parliaments by making new precedents for Posterity or out of faction or affection or what else you please began to put their Rules in practice and draw all matters whatsoever within the cognizance of that Court In which their embracements were at last so general and that humour in the House so prevalent that one being once demanded what they did amongst them returned this answer That they were making a new Creed Another being heard to say That he could not be quiet in his Conscience till the holy Text should be confirmed by an Act of theirs Which passages if they be not true and real as I have them from an honest hand I assure you they are bitter jests But this although indeed it be the sickness and disease of the present Times and little to the honour of the Court of Parliament can be no prejudice at all to the way and means of the Reformation amongst sober and discerning men the Doctrine of the Church being settled the Liturgy published and confirmed the Canons authorized and executed when no such humour was predominant nor no such power pretended to by both or either of the Houses of Parliament But here perhaps it will be said that we are fallen into Charybdis by avoiding Scylla and that endeavouring to stop the mouth of this Popish Calumny we have set open a wide gap to another no less scandalous of the Presbyterians who being as professed Enemies of the Kings as the Popes Supremacy and noting that strong influence which the King hath had in Ecclesiastical affairs since the first attempts for Reformation have charg'd it as reproachfully on the Church of England and the Religion here established that it is Regal at the best if not Parliamentarian and may be called a Regal Faith and a Regal Gospel But the Answer unto this is easie For first the Kings intended by the Objectors did not act much in order to the Reformation as appears by that which hath been said but either by the advice and co-operation of the whole Clergy of the Realm in their Convocations or by the Counsel and consent of the Bishops and most eminent Church men in particular Conferences which made it properly the work of the Clergy only the Kings no otherwise than as it was propouned by him or finally confirmed by the Civil Sanction And secondly had they done more in it than they did they had been warranted so to do by the Word of God who hath committed unto Kings and Sovereign Princes a Supreme or Supereminent power not only in all matters of a Temporal or Secular nature but in such as do concern Religion and the Church of Christ And so St. Augustine hath resolved it in his third Book against Cresconius In hoc Reges sicut iis divinitus praecipitur pray you note that well Deo serviunt in quantum Reges sunt si in suo Regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanum societatem verum etiam ad Divinam Religionem Which words of his seemed so significant and convincing unto Hart the Jesuite that being shewed the Tractate writ by Dr. Nowel against Dorman the Priest in the beginning of Q. Elizabeths time and finding how the case was stated by that Reverend person he did ingenously confess that there was no Authority ascribed to the Kings of england in Ecclesiastical affairs but what was warranted unto them by that place of Augustine The like affimed by him that calleth himself Franciscus de S. Clara though a Jesuite too that you mjay see how much more candid and ingenuous the Jesuits are in this point than the Presbyterians in his Examen of the Articles of the Church of England But hereof you may give me opportunity to speak more hereafter when you propose the Doubts which you say you have relating to the King the Pope and the Churches Protestant and therefore I shall say no more of it at the present time SECT II. The manner of the Reformation of the Church of England declared and justified HItherto I had gone in order to your satisfaction and communicated my conceptions in writing to you when I received your Letter of the 4th of January in which you signified the high contentment I had given you in condescending to your weakness as you pleased to call it and freeing you from those doubts which lay heaviest on you And therewithal you did request me to give you leave to propound those other scruples which were yet behind relating to the King the Pope and the Protestant-Churches either too little
or too much looked after in the Reformation And first you say it is cvomplained of by some Zelots of the Church of rome that the Pope was very hardly and unjustly dealt with in being deprived of the Supremacy so long enjoyed and exercised by his Predecessors and that it was an Innovation no less strange than dangerous to settle it upon the King 2. That the Church of England ought not to have proceeded to a Reformation without the Pope considered either as the Patriarch of the Weftern world or the Apostle in particular of the English Nation 3. That if a Reformation had been found so necessary it ought to have been done by a General Council at least with the consent and co-operation of the Sister-Churches especially of those who were engaged at the same time in the same designs 4. That in the carrying on of the Reformation the Church proceeded very unadvisedly in letting the people have the Scriptures and the publique Liturgy in the vulgar tongue the dangerous consequents whereof are now grown too visible 5. That the proceedings in the point of the Common-prayer Book were meerly Regal the body of the Clergy not consulted with or consenting to it and consequently not so Regular as we fain would have it And 6. That in the power of making Canons and determining matters of the Faith the Clergy have so fettered and intangled themselves by the Act of Submission that they can neither meet deliberate conclude nor execute but as they are enabled by the Kings Authority which is a Vassalage inconsistent with their native Liberties and not agreeable to the usage of the Primitive times These are the points in which you now desire to have satisfaction and you shall have it in the best way I am able to do it that so you may be freed hereafter from such troubles and Disputants as I perceive have laboured to perplex your thoughts and make you less affectionate than formerly to the Church your Mother 1. That the Church of England did not Innovate in the Ejection of the Pope and settling the Supremacy in the Royal Crown And in this point you are to know that it hath been and still is the general and constant judgment of the greatest Lawyers of this Kingdom that the vesting of the Supremacy in the Crown Imperial of this Realm was not Introductory of any new Right or Power which was not in the Crown before but Declaratory of an old which had been anciently and originally inherent in it though of late Times usurped by the Popes of Rome and in Abeyance at that time as our Lawyers phrase it And they have so resolved it upon very good reasons the principal managery of affairs which concern Religion being a flower inseparably annexed to the Regal Diadem not proper and peculiar only to the Kings of England but to all Kings and Princes in the Church of God and by them exercised and enjoyed accordingly in their times and places For who I pray you were the men in the Jewish Church who destroyed the Idols of that people cut down the Groves demolished the high places and brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent when abused to Idolatry Were they not the godly Kings and Princes only which sway'd the Scepter of that Kingdom And though 't is possible enough that they might do it by the counsel and advice of the High-Priests of that Nation or of some of the more godly Priests and Levites who had a zeal unto the Law of the most high God yet we find nothing of it in the holy Scripture the merit of these Reformations which were made occasionally in that faulty Church being ascribed unto their Kings and none but them Had they done any thing in this which belonged not to their place and calling or by so doing had intrenched on the Office of the Priests and Levits that God who punished Vzzab for attempting to support the Ark when he saw it tottering and smote Osias with a Leprosie for burning Incense in the Temple things which the Priests and Levites only were to meddle in would not have suffered those good Kings to have gone unpunished or at least uncensured how good soever their intentions and pretences were Nay on the contrary when any thing was amiss in the Church of Jewry the Kings and not the Priests were admonished of it and reproved for it by the Prophets which sheweth that they were trusted with the Reformation and none else but they Is it not also said of david that he distributed the Priests and Levites into several Classes allotted to them the particular times of their Ministration and designed them unto several Offices in the publick Service Josephus adding to these passages of the Holy Writ That he composed Hymns and Songs to the Lord his God and made them to be sung in the Congregation as an especial part of the publick Liturgy Of which although it may be said that he composed those Songs and Hymns by vertue of his Prophetical Spirit yet he imposed them on the Church appointed Singing-men to sing them and prescribed Vestments also to these Singing-men by no other power than the regal only None of the Priests consulted in it for ought yet appears The like Authority was exercised and enjoyed by the Christian Emperors not only in their calling Councils and many times assisting at them or presiding in them by themselves or their Deputies or Commissioners but also in confirming the Acts thereof He that consults the Code and Novelles in the Civil Laws will find the best Princes to have been most active in things which did concern Religion in regulating matters of the Church and setting out their Imperial Edicts for suppressing of Hereticks Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperor to do in matters which concern the Church is one of the chief Brand-marks which Optatus sets upon the Donatists And though some Christians of the East have in the way of scorn had the name of Melchites men of the Kings Religion as the word doth intimate because they adhered unto those Doctrines which the Emperors agreeable to former Councils had confirmed and ratified yet the best was that none but Sectaries and Hereticks put that name upon them Neither the men nor the Religion was a jot the worse Nor did they only deal in matters of Exterior Order but even in Doctrinals matters intrinsecal to the Faith for which their Enoticon set out by the Emperor Zeno for settling differences in Religion may be proof sufficient The like Authority was exercised and enjoyed by Charles the Great when he attained the Western Empire as the Capitulars published in his Name and in the names of his Successors do most clearly evidence and not much less enjoyed and practised by the Kings of England in the elder times though more obnoxious to the power of the Pope of Rome by reason of his Apostleship if I may so call it the Christian Faith being first preached unto the English
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
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
and adjuncts of it which had been utterly abolished in Zuinglian Churches and much impaired in power and jurisdiction by the Lutherans also and keeping up a Liturgy or set form of worship according to the rites and usages of the primitive times which those of the Calvinian Congregations would not hearken to God certainly had so disposed it in his Heavenly wisdom that so this Church without respect unto the names and Dictates of particular Doctors might found its Reformation on the Prophets and Apostles only according to the Explications and Traditions of the ancient Fathers And being so founded in it self without respect to any of the differing parties might in succeeding Ages sit as Judge between them as being more inclinable by her constitution to mediate a peace amongst them than to espouse the quarrel of either side And though Spalato in the Book of his Retractations which he calls Consilium redeundi objects against us That besides the publick Articles and confession authorised by the Churches we had embraced some Lutheran and Calvinian Fancies multa Lutheri Calvini dogmata so his own words run yet this was but the error of particular men not to be charged upon the Church as maintaining either The Church is constant to her safe and her first conclusions though many private men take liberty to imbrace new Doctrines 4. That the Church did not innovate in translating the Scriptures and the publick Liturgie into vulgar tongues and of the consequents thereof in the Church of England The next thing faulted as you say in the Reformation is the committing so much heavenly treasure to such rotten vessels the trusting so much excellent Wine to such musty bottles I mean the versions of the Scriptures and the publick Liturgies into the usual Languages of the common people and the promiscuous liberty indulged them in it And this they charge not as an Innovation simply but as an Innovation of a dangerous consequence the sad effects whereof we now see so clearly A charge which doth alike concern all the Protestant and Reformed Churches so that I should have passed it over at the present time but that it is made ours more specially in the application the sad effects which the enemy doth so much insult in being said to be more visible in the Church of England than in other places This make it ours and therefore here to be considered as the former were First then they charge it on the Church as an Innovation it being affirmed by Bellarmine l. 2. De verbo Dei c. 15. whether with less truth or modesty it is hard to say Vniversam Ecclesiam semper his tantum linguis c. that in the Universal Church in all times foregoing the Scriptures were not commonly and publickly read in any other language but in the Hebrew Greek and Latine This is you see a two-edged sword and strikes not only against all Translations of the Scriptures into vulgar Languages for common use but against reading those Translations publickly as a part of Liturgy in which are many things as the Cardinal tells us quae secreta esse debent which are not fit to be made known to the common people This is the substance of the charge and herein we joyn issue in the usual Form with Absque hoc sans ceo no such matter really the constant current of Antiquity doth affirm the contrary by which it will appear most plainly that the Church did neither Innovate in the act of hers nor deviate therein from the Word of God or from the usage of the best and happiest times of the Church of Christ Not from the Word of God there 's no doubt of that which was committed unto writing that it might be read and read by all that were to be directed and guided by it The Scriptures of the Old Testament first writ in Hebrew the Vulgar Language of that people and read unto them publickly on the Sabbath days as appears clearly Act. 13.15 15.21 translated afterwards by the cost and care of Ptolemy Philadelphus King of Egypt into the Greek tongue the most known and sTudied Language of the Eastern World The New Testament first writ in Greek for the self-same reason but that S. Matthew's Gospel is affirmed by some Learned men to have been written in the Hebrew and written to this end and purpose that men might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing they might have life in his Name Joh. 20. vers ult But being that all the Faithful did not understand these Languages and that the light of holy Scripture might not be likened to a Candle hidden under a Bushel It was thought good by many godly men in the Primitive times to translate the same into the Languages of the Countreys in which they lived or of the which they had been Natives In which respect S. Chrysostom then banished into Armenia translated the New Testament and the Psalms of David into the Language of that people S. Hierom a Pannonian born translated the whole Bible into the Dalmatick tongue as Vulphilas Bishop of the Gothes did into the Gothick all which we find together without further search in the Bibliotheque of Sixtus Senensis a learned and ingenuous man but a Pontifician and so less partial in this cause The like done here in England by the care of Athelstan causing a Translation of it into the Saxon Tongue the like done by Methodius the Apostle General of the Sclaves translating it into the Sclavonian for the use of those Nations not to say any thing of the Syriack Aethiopick Arabick the Persian and Chaldaean Versions of which the times and Authors are not so well known And what I pray you is the vulgar or old Latine Edition of late times made Authentick by the Popes of Rome but a Translation of the Scriptures out of Greek and Hebrew for the instruction of the Roman and Italian Nations to whom the Latine at that time was the Vulgar Tongue And when that Tongue by reason of the breaking in of the barbarous Nations was worn out of knowledge I mean as to the common people did not God stir up James Arch-Bishop of Genoa when the times were darkest that is to say Anno 1290. or thereabouts to give some light to them by translating the whole Bible into the Italian the modern Language of that Countrey As he did Wiclef not long after to translate the same into the English of those times the Saxon Tongue not being then commonly understood a copy of whose Version in a fair Velom Manuscript I have now here by me by the gift of my noble Friend Charles Dymoke Hereditary Champion to the Kings of England So then it is no Innovation to translate the Scriptures and less to suffer these Translations to be promiscuously read by all sorts of people the Scripture being as well Milk for Babes as strong Meat for the man of more able judgment Why else doth the Apostle note it
miseries of his own May not both Factions see by this what a condition the poor Church of England is involved in by them The sight whereof althoug it justifie them not in their several courses as being not without example in their present practices yet it may serve to let you know that as the distractions and confusions under which we suffer are not the consequents of our translating of the Scriptures and publick Liturgies into the common vulgar Tongues so it is neither new nor strange that such confusionsand distractions should befal the Church 5. That the proceedings of this Church in setting out the English Liturgy were not meerly Regal and of the power of Soveraign Princes in Ecclesiastical affairs Having thus proved that nothing hath been done amiss by the Church of England with reference to Gods Word the testimonies of godly Fathes and the usage of the primitive times in leaving off the Latine Service and celebrating all Divine Offices in the English Tongue I am to justifie it next in order to the carrying on of that weighty business whether so Regular or not as we fain would have it I see you are not scrupled at the subject-matter of the Common-prayer-book which being translated into Greek Latine French and Spanish hath found a general applause in most parts of Christendom no where so little set by as it is at home All scruples in that kind have been already fully satisfied by our learned Hooker who hath examined it per partes and justified it in each part and particular Office But for the greater honour of it take this with you also which is alledged in the Conference of Hampton Court touching the Marquess of Rhosny after Duke of Sally and Lord High Treasurer of France who coming Ambassador to King James from Henry IV. and having seen the solemn celebration of our Service at Canterbury and in his Majesties Royal Chappels did often and publickly affirm that if the Reformed Churches in France had kept the same Orders as were here in England he was assured there would have been many thousand Protestants in that Kingdom more than were at that time That which you seem to stick at only is in the way and manner of proceeding in it which though you find by perusal of the Papers which I sent first unto you not to have been so Parliamentarian as the Papists made it yet still you doubt whether it were so Regular and Canonical as it might have been And this you stumble at the rather in regard that the whole Body of the Clergy in their Convocation had no hand therein either as to decree the doing of it or to approve it being done but that it was resolved on by the King or rather by the Lord Protector in the Kings Minority with some few of the Bishops by which Bishops and as small a number of Learned Church-men being framed and fashioned it was allowed of by the King confirmed or imposed rather by an Act of Parliament Your question hereupon is this Whether the King for his acting it by a Protector doth not change the Case consulting with a lesser part of his Bishops and Clergy and having their consent therein may conclude any thing in the way of a Reformation the residue and greatest part not advised withal nor yielding their consent unto it in a formal way This seems to have some reference to the Scottish Liturgie for by your Letter I perceive that one of the chief of your Objectors is a Divine of that Nation and therefore it concerns me to be very punctual in my Answer to it And that my Answer my be built on the surer Ground it is to be considered first whether the Reformation be in corruption of manners or abuses in Government whether in matters practical or in points of Doctrine 2. If in matters practical whether such practice have the character of Antiquity Universality and Consent imprinted on it or that it be the practice of particular Churches and of some times only And 3. If in points of Doctrine whether such points have been determined of before in a General Council or in particular Councils universally received and countenanced or are to be defined de novo on emergent controversies And these Distinctions being laid I shall answer briefly First If the things to be reformed be either corruptions in manners or neglect of publick duties to Almighty God abuses either in Government or the parties governing the King may do it of himself by his sole Authority The Clergy are beholden to him if he takes any of them along with him when he goeth about it And if the times should be so bad that either the whole body of the Clergy or any though the greatest part thereof should oppose him in it he may go forwards notwithstanding punishing such as shall gainsay him in so good a work and compelling others And this I look on as a Power annexed to the Regal Diadem and so inseparably annexed that Kings could be no longer Kings if it were denied them But hereof we have spoke already in the first of this Section and shall speak more hereof in the next that follows And on the other side if the Reformation be in points of Doctrin and in such points of doctrine as have not been before defined or not defined in form and manner as before laid down The King only with a few of his Bishops and Learned Clergy though never so well studied in the point disputed can do nothing in it That belongs only to the whole Body of the Clergy in their Convocation rightly called and constituted whose Acts being ratified by the King bind not alone the rest of the Clergy in whose names they Voted but all the residue of the subjects of what sort soever who are to acquiesce in their Resolutions The constant practice of the Church and that which we have said before touching the calling and authority of the Convocation makes this clear enough But if the thing to be Reformed be a matter practical we are to look into the usage of the Primitive times And if the practice prove to have been both ancient and universally received over all the Church though intermitted for a time and by time corrupted The King consulting with so many of his Bishops and others of his most able Clergy as he thinks fit to call unto him and having their consent and direction in it may in the case of intermission revive such practice and in the case of corruption and degeneration restore it to its Primitive and original lustre whether he do it of himself of his own meer motion or that he follow the advice of his Council in it whether he be of age to inform himself or that he doth relie on those to whom he hath committed the publick Government it comes all to one So they restrain themselves to the ancient patterns The Reformation which was made under josias though in his Minority and acting by the Counsel of the
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
in the Primitive Church how justifiable in the whole course and order of her publick Liturgie with all the Rubricks and observances therein contained In which if any thing be done conducible unto Gods glory and the Churches peace the information of the Reader or the convincing of such men who are otherwise minded I shall think my labour well bestowed and my pains well recompensed Howsoever it will be some matter of contentment to me that I have done my duty in it according unto that poor measure of abilities which the Lord hath given me commending both the cause and these weak indevours to his Heavenly blessings without which Paul's planting and Apollo's watering are of no increase CHAP. I. What doth occurre and whether any thing at all for Set Forms of Prayer from the time of Adam unto Moses 1. Prayer the chief exercise of publick Worship 2. The ground use and necessity of publick Forms 3. What priviledge belongs unto the Priest or Minister in that part of Gods Service which consists in Prayer 4. The inconvenience and confusion that must needs arise for want of Set Forms in the Worship of God 5. Liturgies or Set Forms of Prayer in use amongst all sorts of people Jews Gentiles Christians 6. The meaning of the word Liturgy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the civil sense 7. As also in the Ecclesiastical notion of it 8. Whether the offerings of Cain and Abel were regulated by a prescribed Form 9. A prescribed Form of Worship conceived by some to have been introduced by Enos 10. The Sacrifices and devotions of the ancient Patriarchs for the most part occasional only 11. The Consecrating of set places for Gods publick worship first begun by Jacob. IT is exceeding well observed by our incomparable Hooker as some truly call him Hook Eccl. Pol. l. 5. §. 23. That if the Angels have a continual intercourse betwixt the Throne of God in Heaven and his Church here militant upon the Earth the same is no where better verified than in those two godly exercises of Doctrine and Prayer For what saith he is the assembling of the Church to learn but the receiving of Angels descended from above What to pray but the ascending of Angels upwards His Heavenly inspirations and our holy desires being as so many Angels of commerce and intercourse between God and us And although these two godly and religious exercises seem to walk hand in hand together the Prayers made in and by the Church having for many Ages past even long before the birth of Christianity been intermingled with the reading of the Law and Prophets yet find we that of Prayer so acceptable in the sight of God so highly valued by the Lord above all other parts of his publick Service that he vouchsafed from hence to give a name to his holy Temple and to entitle it Isa 56.7 The House of Prayer Which holy and religious duty as it concerneth us two ways one way in that we are men and another way as parts and members of the Church the mystical Body of our Lord and Saviour so it admits of several considerations both for the matter of the same and the manner of it As men we are at our own choice for time place and form according to the exigences of our own occasions The Church requires not any thing in the performance of this pious office either as private or domestical but that we pray with understanding that we consider with our selves what it is we ask 1 Cor. 14.15 Jam. 4.3 and of whom we ask it Ye ask and receive not saith S. James because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts But for the Service which we do as a publick body that being publick is for that cause to be accompted so much the worthier than the other as a whole society of such condition exceedeth the worth of any one particular person and for that cause hath been more strictly tied in all former Ages as to prescribed times and places so to set Forms also For were there not some time prescribed in the great growth and spreading of the Church of God for the convening of the Congregation some place assigned in which to meet together at the times appointed the prayers and devotions of Gods people might and would happen oftentimes to be either at the same time in several places or in the same place at several times and so be nothing less than the common prayers the joynt devotions of Gods Servants Of all the circumstances which attend Gods publick Service those two of time and place come most near the substance and are de bene esse at the least of that weighty duty And if appointed times and places being meerly circumstances be of so great a consequence in Gods publick Service that without them it cannot be discharged with effect and comfort assuredly the form thereof containing the whole substance the main body of it hath much more need to be prescribed For what saith the Apostle in this case or one very near it If the whole Church should come together in some place and all speak with tongues 1 Cor. 14.23 and there come in those which are Vnbelievers would they not say that ye are mad Vers 26 Or what a tumult would it be if when you come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Tongue hath a Doctrine hath a Revelation would it not be a strange medly Vers 23 God as S. Paul hath told us is the God of order not of confusion in the Churches And therefore hath given power unto his Church that all things in it for the manner Vers 40 be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decently in a stablished order and for the end thereof Vers 26 to edifying A thing which could not be in possibility had every man the liberty to use his own tongue in the Congregation or to conceive and utter his own prayers or frame unto himself his own devotions which is the ground of all those several Liturgies and set Forms of Prayer which have from the Apostles times been used in the House of God and never quarrelled till of late Nor can it be ascribed as I conceive to any lower power than the Wisdom of God guiding the Counsels of his Church and therefore to be reckoned as a work of his singular Providence that the Church hath evermore observed a prescript form of Common-Prayer although not in all things every where the same yet for the most part retaining still the same Analogy Hook Eccl. Pol. l. 9. num 25. So that as Hooker well observeth if the Liturgies of all ancient Churches throughout the world be compared amongst themselves it may be easily perceived that they had all one original mould and that the publick prayers of the People of God in Churches throughly setled and established did never use to be voluntary dictates proceeding from any mans extemporal wit And certainly to drive this
and the proof are alike infirm For not to quarrel the Translation which is directly different from the Greek and Vulgar Latine and somewhat from the former English this Psalm if writ by David was not meant by him of any present misery which befel the Church There had been no such havock made thereof in all David's time as is there complained of And therefore Calvin rather thinks ad tempus Antiochi referri has querinonias that David as inspired with the spirit of Prophecy Calv. in Psal 74. reflected on those wretched and calamitous times wherein Antiochus made such havock of the Church of God Nor was there any Use of them in those former times because no reading of the Law of ordinary course in the Congregation as before was said But when the former course was changed and that the reading of the Law to the People of God was not licensed only but enjoyned then began the Jews to build them Synagogues which afterwards increased so strangely that there was no Town of any moment throughout all Judaea nor almost any City where they dwelt as Strangers in which they did not build some Synagogue God certainly had so disposed it in his holy Counsels that so his Word might be more generally known over all the world and a more easie way laid open for the receipt of the Messiah whom he meant to send that so Hierusalem and the Temple there might by degrees be lessened in their reputation and men might learn that neither of them was the only place where they ought to worship As for their Oratories which before I spake of although I find not their Original yet I can tell you of their Use For this saith Epiphanius of them Epiph. Haeres 80. n. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There were saith he amongst the Jews without their Cities certain Oratories whither the people did sometimes resort to make their prayers unto the Lord. And this he proves out of the xvi of the Acts where it is said And on the Sabbath we went out of the City by a Rivers side where prayer was wont to be made vers 3. i.e. Vbi de more consuetudine haberi conventus consueverant as Beza notes upon the Text. The Latines called them from the Use they were put unto Proseuchas as in qua te quaero Proseucha in the Poet Juvenal Beza in Annot. in Act. 16.13 And although Beza take those Proseuchas to be the very same with the Jewish Synagogues Juvenal Sat. 5. Beza in Act. 16. yet sure there was a special difference between them For in those Proseuchas or Oratories they might only pray in the Synagogues they might not only make their prayers but also read the Law and Prophets and expound the same and in the Temple of the Lord besides those former duties they might offer Sacrifice which was not lawful to be done in other places And to these times when now the Jewish Church was settled and Synagogues erected in almost all places for reading and expounding the Law of God we must refer those passages from Philo and Josephus before remembred which cannot possibly be made good of the former times wherein this people wanted all conveniencies for those weekly meetings Thus have we seen what care the Rulers of that Church took for providing fit and convenient places for the performance of Gods publick worship and all the sacred Offices thereunto belonging Had they not think we equal power of adding days and times to the commemorating of Gods goodness and laying before him their afflictions s well as in appointing places Assuredly such power they had and made Use thereof according as they saw occasion Witness the feast of Purim ordained by Mordecai and Hester with the consent and approbation of the whole people of the Jews to be obsered on the 14 and 15 days of the moneth Adar yearly throughout their Generations for evermore Hest 9.17 c. that they should make them days of feasting and joy and of sending portions unto one another and gifts to the Poor Nor was this all to make them days of feasting and good fellowship and no more than so for this had been to make their belly their God and so by consequence their glory must have been their shame but in all probability there were ordained set forms of praise and prayer for so great a mercy and the continuance of the like Those who conceived themselves to have Authority of instituting a new Festival to the Lord their God could not but know they had Authority of instituting a new form of prayer and praise agreeable to the occasion And so much we may guess by that which remains thereof it being affirmed by one Antonius Margarita a converted Jew once one of the Professors for the tongue I take it in the University of Leipsich Fevardent in Hest cap. ult Hospinian de Origine Fest fol. 133. that to this day legunt diebus illis in Synagogis suis historiam istam they read upon the days of the said Feast of the book of Hester and anciently 't was not the custom of the Jewish Church to read the Scripture without set forms of Prayers and appointed Ceremonies The like may also be affirmed of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Feast of Dedication A Feast ordained by Judas Maccabeus and the Elders of the Jewish Nation who having cleansed the Temple and set up the Altar which had been impiously profaned by Antiochus did dedicate the same with Songs and Citternes 1 Maccab. 4.59 c. and with Harps and Cymbals and that being done ordained that the days of the Dedication should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days c. with mirth and gladness Here we find mirth and gladness as before in the feast of Purim And doubt we not but there was in the Celebration of it as much spiritual mirth and gladness at least in the intention of the founders as there was of carnal although the forth and manner of it have not come unto us Our Saviour Christ had never honoured it with his blessed presence as we shall see he did hereafter if it had been otherwise Besides which annual Feasts recorded in the holy Scripture they had another which they called festivitatem legis or the feast of the Law ordained by the Rulers of the Church of Jewry for joy that they had finished the publick reading of the Law in their Congregations For as before I told you the Jews began the reading of the Law upon the Sabbath after the feast of Tabernacles and finished it at 5a readings against the feast of Tabernacles came about again Now 't is observed by Joseph Scaliger that the feast of Tabernacles beginning always on the 15th of the month Tisri and holding on until the 22d inclusively this Festival was always held on the morrow after being the three and twentieth of this month Which Feast
charge to go teach all Nations Id. 28.19 And when he found them backward in pursuit thereof he quickned Peter by a Vision and called Paul as it were of purpose Act. 10.11 to bear his name before the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness unto light Act. 9.17 and from the power of Satan unto God So that although the Jews and Gentiles were not collected into one body in our Saviours time Act. 26.18 I mean the time in which he pleased to sojourn here upon the Earth yet being done by his Authority and by the conduct and direction of his blessed Spirit it can be said of none but him quod fecit utraque unum that he made both one bringing them both into one Church Ephes 2.14 and making both partakers of the same communion who were before at such a distance as was conceived to be irreconcilable Unto the constituting of which Church our Saviour brought not any thing of Rite or Ceremony determined nothing that we meet with in his holy Gospels touching the time or place of publick Worship the Form and manner of the same save that he gave a general intimation that Hierusalem should no longer be the place in which men should be bound to Worship Joh. 4.21 The pains he took were principally spent in points of Doctrin clearing the truths of holy Scripture from those false glosses and corrupt traditions which had been put upon it by the Scribes and Pharisees and setting forth a new and clearer body of Divinity than had been taught the people in the Law of Moses that the Father might be worshipped in succeeding times with a greater measure of the spirit and a more perfect knowledge of the truth Joh. 4.23 24. than he had been formerly As for the circumstances and out-parts of Worship he left them in the state he found them that is to say to the disposing of the Church in whose power it was to institute such Rites and Ceremonies as might apparently conduce to the increase of Piety and to the setting forth of Gods praise and glory Himself had given a personal and most exemplary obedience to the Church of Jewry conforming to such Rites and Ordinances wherein there was no deviation from the Law of God as had in former times been setled by the power thereof And therefore had no cause of his collecting a Church conducted in those points which pertain to godliness by such a visible co-operation of the Holy Ghost especially considering what a fair example of Conformity he should leave behind him Besides all people of the world both Jews and Gentiles were setled at that time in a full perswasion of the necessity of set times and determinate places for the assembling of themselves together in the acts of Worship and had their prescribed Forms both of Prayer and Praise their Rituals and established Ceremonies and therewith also an opinion that those things were to be eprformed by the Priest alone Which being agreed on in the general both people might be brought with more facility to fall on some particular conclusions to which they were inclined already by their common principles And so indeed it proved in a short event times places and set Forms for worship being unanimously and universally received amongst them within a very little while after our Lords departure The Jews already had their Synagogues their Proseuchas or Oratories as before was said How small a labour was it to the blessed Apostles and their successors in that work to turn those Synagogues of theirs into Christian Churches for Preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the Sacraments accordingly as they did win upon the Jews to embrace the Gospel Nor is this only a bare speculation it was done de facto it being recorded in a book ascribed unto Athanasius that on the converting of the Jews Inhabitants of Beritus to the faith of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas de passione imaginis Dom. nostri To. 2. gr l. p. 631. that the Bishop who had laboured in it converted the Synagogue of the Jews into a Christian Church and dedicated it to our Lord and Saviour And for the Temples of the Gentiles when once their superstitions were suppressed and the Gospel countenanced by Authority they were converted also to the self-same use Vid. Bed hist Eccles 1. as the Jewish Synagogues had been in other places Gods Servants being in the mean time contented with such safe retreats as their necessities inforced them to make use of in those fiery times or with such publick places of Assembly but mean and under the degree of envy as either upon sufferance or by special leave they were permitted to erect As soon if not more suddenly all parties also were agreed on the times of worship which was reduced with general and joynt consent unto the first day of the week the Lords day or the Sunday call it which you will wherein all members of the Congregation were to meet together for Gods publick Service A business wherein the Church proceeded with great care and wisdom setting apart one day in seven to hold the fairer quarter with the Jews who were so zealous of a Sabbath but altering the day it self and paring off those legal Ordinances which had made it burdensome the better to content the Gentiles Yet so that they had also their daily meetings as occasion served for celebration of the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist in those fiery times Whereof as being instituted for the Christian Sacrifice and of the Evangelical Priesthood to attend the same we shall speak anon In the mean time the next thing here to be considered is the form and order wherein the Church did celebrate Gods publick Service in those purer times those Forms of Prayer and Invocation wherewith they did address themselves to the Lord their God That all Religious offices in the House of God should be performed in form and order 1 Cor. 14. is not only warranted but enjoyned by the Apostles Canon made for those of Corinth and consequently for all Churches else And that for the avoiding of Battologies and all effusions of raw and undigested prayers besides what hath been shewn before to have been generally in use both with Jew and Gentile in being bound and regulated by set Forms of Prayer We have a Form laid down by our Lord and Saviour both for our use and imitation And first that it was made for our imitation is generally agreed on even by those who otherwise approve not set Forms of Prayer Calv. in Harm Evangel Calvin doth so resolve it saying In hunc finem tradita est haec regula ad quam preces nostras exigere necesse est si legitimas censeri Deoque probari cupimus And in the words not long before Non jubet Christus suos conceptis verbis orare sed tantum ostendit quorsum vota omnia precesque referri
Scripture there is no question made amongst Learned men but they were Obligatory to the Church for succeeding Ages The blessing of the Bread the breaking of it and the distributing thereof unto his Apostles the blessing of the Cup and the communicating of the same to all the Company those formal Energetical words Take eat this is my Body and drink ye all of this this is the Cup c. and all this to be done in remembrance of me Are rites and actions so determined words so prescribed and so precisely to be used that it is not in the Churches power unless she mean to set up a Religion of her own devising for to change the same And this I take it is agreed on by all Learned Protestants Certain I am it was so in the Churches practice from the first beginning as may appear to any one who will take the pains to compare the Rites and Form of administration used by S. Paul and his Associates in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 11.24.25 with that which was both done and prescribed by Christ according as it is related in the holy Gospel A further proof hereof we shall e're long Nor find I any difference considerable amongst moderate men touching the Priest or Minister ordained by Christ for the perpetuating of this Sacrament for the commemoratingof his death and passion until his coming unto judgement The publick exercises of Religion would be but ill performed without a Priesthood and that would soon be brought to nothing at least reduced unto contempt and scorn if every one that listeth might invade the Office Our Saviour therefore when he did institute this Sacrament or as the Fathers called it without offence in those pious times the Sacrifice of the blessed Eucharist Cum novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem Prenaeus cont hares l. 4. c. 32. to use the words of Irenaeus give an hoc facite unto his Apostles a faculty to them and their successors in the Evangelical Priesthood to do as he had done before that is to take the Bread to bless to break it and to distribute it amongst the Faithful to sanctifie the Cup and then to give it to the Congregation Men of on Orders in the Church may edere bibere as the Lord appointed and happy 't is they are permitted to enjoy such sweet refection But for hoc facere that 's the Priests peculiar And take they heed who do usurp upon the Office lest the Lord strike them with a fouler Leprosie than he did Vzzah 2 Chron. 26.20 when he usurped upon the Priesthood and would needs offer Incense in the House of God These points are little controverted amongst sober men The matter most in question which concerns this business is whether our Redeemer used any other either Prayers or Blessings when he did institute this blessed Sacrament than what were formerly in use amongst the Jews when they did celebrate their Passeover and if he did then whether he commended them unto his Apostles or left them to themselves to compose such Prayers as the necessities of the Church required and might seem best to them and the Holy Ghost This we shall best discover by the following practice in which it will appear on a careful search that the Apostles in their times and the Church afterwards by their example did use and institute such Forms of Prayer and Praise and Benedictions in the Solemnities of the blessed Sacrament of which there is no constat in the Book of God that they were used at that time by our Saviour Christ And if they kept themselves to a prescript Form in celebration of the Eucharist as we shall shortly see they did then we may easily believe it was not long before they did the like in all the acts of publick Worship according as the Church increased and the Believers were disposed of into Congregations And first beginning with the Apostles it is delivered by the Ancients that in the Consecration of the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood they used to say the Lords Prayer Hierom. adv Pelagium l. 3. There is a place in Hierome which may seem to intimate that this was done by Christs appointment Sic docuit Apostolos suos saith that Reverend Father ut quotidie in corporis illius sacrificio credentes audeant loqui Pater noster c. Whether his words will bear that meaning I can hardly say Certain I am they are alledged to this purpose by a late Learned writer Steph. Durantes de ritibus Ecelesiae Cathol l. 2. c. 46. who saying first Eam i. e. orationem Dominicam in Missae sacro dicendam Christus ipse Apostolos docuit that Christ instructed his Apostles to say the Lords Prayer in the Celebration of that Sacrament or in the Sacrifice of the Mass as he calls it there doth for the proof thereof vouch these words of Hierome But whether it were so or not most sure it is that the Apostles are reported to have used that Prayer as often as they Celebrated the Communion Mos fuit Apostolorum saith S. Gregory ut ad ipsam solummodo orationem Dominicam oblationis hostiam consecrarent It was Gregor M. Epist l. 7. Ep. 54. V. Bellarm. de Missa l. 2. c. 19. Durand Ration divinorum l. 4. saith he the use or custom of the Apostles to Consecrate the Host or Sacrament with reciting only the Lords Prayer Which passage if he took from that of Hierome as some think he did the one may not unfitly serve to explain the other The like saith Durand in his Rationale The Lord saith he did institute the Sacrament with no other words than those of Consecration only Quibus Apostoli adjecerunt orationem Dominicam to which the Apostles added the Lords Prayer And in this wise did Peter first say Mass you must understand him of the Sacrament in the Eastern parts Platina in vita Sixti Platina saith the like as to S. PETER Eum ubi consecraverit oratione Pater noster usum esse That in the Consecration of the Sacrament he used to say the Lords Prayer or the Pater noster See to this purpose Antonius tit 5. cap. 2. § 1. Martinus Polonus in his Chronicon and some later Writers By which as it is clear and evident that the Apostles used the Lords Prayer in the Celebration of the holy Mysteries which is a most strong argument that it was given them to be used or said not to be imitated only So it may seem by Gregories solummodo that they used the Lords Prayer and nothing else And therefore that of Gregory must be understood either that they used no other Prayer in the very act of Consecration or that they closed the Form of Consecration with that Prayer of Christs which may well be without excluding of the words of Consecration which our Saviour used or such preparatory Prayers as were devised by the Apostles for that great solemnity For certainly
not only Prayers and Benedictions used and commanded to be used at the Celebration but such a prescribed and determinate Form as quickly was received over all the Church The Commentaries commonly ascribed to Ambrose which if not his are certainly both very pious and of great Antiquity give us the matter of those Prayers which here by the Apostles rule were ladi first of all as a preparatory to the Celebration Haec regula Ecclesiastica est tradita à magistro Gentium qua utuntur sacerdotes nostri ut pro omnibus supplicent Ambr. Comment in â— ad Tim. c. 2. c. This Ecclesiastical Ordinance saith he was given by by the Doctor of the Gentiles which our Priests use unto this day making their Prayers to God for all men Praying for the Kings of the world that they may have their people in obedience that being governed in peace they may serve the Lord in rest and quietness of mind as also for all those which are in Authority under them that they may govern the Common-wealth in truth and equity with plenty of all things that so all tumults and seditions being far removed joyfulness may succeed in the place thereof For it is Bread that strengtheneth and Wine that maketh glad the heart of man They intercede also for all those who are in misery or necessity that being delivered from the same they may praise the Lord the Author of all health and safety finally giving thanks to God for all those blessings which he affordeth us in this life that God may so be praised from whom and Christ by whom so many benefits are bestowed upon us that all things being composed and quieted which might prove dangerous unto the Empire we may have liberty to serve the Lord in godliness and honesty Thus he And this I could fain know how little if at all this differs either for matter form or place from the Prayer entituled for the Church militan here on Earth continued till this day in the Church of England And that according to S. Ambrose if the work be his Secundum regulam Ecclesiasticam traditam à Magistro Gentium conform unto a rule of S. Paul's prescribing I add but this which is observed unto my hand by a very learned and industrious Gentleman for I am willing to acknowledge by whom I profit that in the meaning of the Apostle H. Thorndike of Religious Assemb cap. 10. p. 377. as well as in the practice of the primitive Church Prayers and Supplications were to be made for all men in the Celebration of the Eucharist for Kings c. it being neither strained nor forced as he notes full well to take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or thanksgiving which S. Paul there useth in that very sense in which it hath been used by Clemens and Ignatius the Apostles Scholars for the Celebration of the Eucharist for the whole action and all the Prayers and supplications which it was celebrated withal For why not thus as well in this place of S. Paul 1 Cor. 14.16 as in another not so likely where the Apostle asks this question HOw shall he which occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what he saith Of which thus Beza in his notes Suspicor Apostolum attingere Beza Annot. in 1. ad Cor. c. 14. celebrandae Domini coenae ritum solennem illam gratiarum actionem I am saith he of an opinion that the Apostle in this place doth point unto the Rites of Celebrating the Lords holy Supper and that solemn giving of thanks which was therein used a full description of the which he gives us out of Justin Martyr which we shall see anon in its proper place Whence had the blessed Sacraments the name of Eucharist V. Casaubon in Annal. Eccl. Exerc. 16. n. 40. if our Grammarians and Philologers be not much mistaken but from this solemn giving thanks which was used therein Thus am I fallen at last upon S. Pauls Epistle unto those of Corinth wherein it is conceived that the performances of the Church are most fully handled as they relate unto the publick worship of Almighty God Which though it be as in relation to those times in which there were such wonderful effusions of the holy Spirit yet being that those effusions were miraculous and the publick offices of the Church were governed by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost there are not many things therein which may be drawn into example in these later times in which we must not look for such effusions For it is well observed by Chrysostom Chrysost Homil. 14. n. 18. ad Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That many of those miracles which were frequent then are not to be expected now These extraordinary graces were not given but for an extraordinary end which was the planting of the Gospel in the midst of Paganism or where it was encountred by an obstinate faction of obdurate Jews And therefore they that do pretend to such special gifts as were in those times necessary for theordering and edification of the Church may by as strong a Charter for ought I can see lay claim unto the gift of Tongues and the power of Healing and the spirit of Prophesie which yet I see but few of them do aspire unto Passing by those things therefore in this Epistle which are not to be drawn into example if will appear most clearly from the xiv Chapter that to the constituting of Gods publick Service in the Congregation there went these three parts Prayer Praise and Prophesie which we have formerly observed to be the three ingredients that make up the same This last we find much spoke of throughout that Chapter particularly and by name verse 1 3 5 22 29 31 32 39. The other two he joyneth together in one verse 1 Cor. 14.15 viz. I will pray with the spirit and will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Himself informs us what he means by Prophesying where it is said that he who Prophesyeth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation Ibid. v. 3. both which as the times then were there was a great ambition in the Prophets of the Church of Corinth for ostentation of their gifts to utter them in Tongues not understood by the common people This is the thing most blamed by the Apostle in the present Chapter viz. that in their exhortations to the people or explications of the Scriptures they used to speak in unknown tongues and not interpret Ibid. v. 5. 27 And that they did the like in the act of Prayer is conceived by Beza where he thus glosseth on the Text Orabo spiritu i. e. lingua peregrina quam mihi dictat spiritus Beâ—a in Annot. in 1. ad Cor. 14 I will pray in the spirit that is saith he in such an unknown tongue as the spirit
For if upon the spreading of the Heresies before remembred the Church thought it convenient to restrain the liberty of making and using publick Forms there must be publick Forms before both made and used in the Church and therefore sure they came not in upon that occasion And if the Arians and Pelagians had a mind to disperse their poysons and do it with the greater freedom they might have done more to purpose a thing which we observe by too sad experience in arbitrary and extemporary prayers of each Mans devising than being tied and limited by a prescript Form how well soever fitted and contrived to advance their ends That which they mean if they mean any thing is this that in the time when Chrisostom was Bishop of Constantinople the Arians held their Congregations without the City But grew at last unto that boldness that when the Orthodox Professors held their publick meetings as on all Saturdays and Sundays they used to do the Arians got within the gates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. hist Eccl. 6. c. 8. Sozomen hist Eccl. l. 8. c. 8. and there sung certain Hymns and Anthems Quire-wise or alternatim answering one another which they had fitted to their lewd and impious tenets This they continued for the greatest part of the Night and at day-break singing thee Hymns of Songs even in the middle of the City they went out again to their own places of Assembly This when it was observed by Chrysostom to allure many simple Men to that wicked faction he called out some of his own flock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who falling on the same course and being intent on this Night-musick might both suppress the insolency of the Arian party and confirm his own people in the faith This is the story which they aim at and this makes nothing to the purpose For what hath this to do with set Forms of prayer so long in use before the time of Chrysostom Or if it had yet all that Chrysostom did on this occasion was not to take away or restrain the liberty of making and using publick Forms but rather to increase those Forms which were made before For 't is said plainly in the story 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he increased the wonted prayers by adding those Night-anthems to the publick service But they say still that some restrain there was of a former liberty Socrat. hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 8.3 and such as was brought in upon occasion of those Heresis of which before we spake it being first ordained say they in the Council of Laodicea that none should pray pro arbitrio sed semper eaedem preces that none should use liberty to vary in Prayer but use always the same Form Somewhat indeed was done in that ancient Synod Smectym p. 7. and somewhat also to this purpose but neither so as is delivered nor on that occasion Not upon that occasion doubtless For if Baronius rightly calculate the times as I think he doth the Council of Laodicea with those of Arles Ancyra V. Baron Annal Eccl. To. 3. 5. and Neocaesarea was holden in the year 314. the Arian Heresie began not till the next year after and the Pelagian near an hundred years from that An. 413. Chrysostom not being Bishop of Constantinople until the year 397. or thereabouts So that the Fathers in this Council must needs be all inspired with the spirit of Prophecie seeing they could provide such a certain remedy so many years before the mischief Now as this Council did not any thing on this occasion so whatsoever it was they did it was not so as is delivered The Canon pointed to is this Concil Laodicen Can. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the same Office of Prayers should be always used both in the Morning and the Evening at nine and night for so I take it we must render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than post off both services till the afternoon These are the words which though they serve most evidently for set Forms of pryaer composed by men of eminency for the Churches use and then imposed upon the Clergy by the Churches power yet we are told that the Forms herein spoken of were of every several mans own composing and that the meaning of the Council was no more than this viz. To forbid men from varying their own prayers as they listed Smectymn p. 7. nd to enjoyn them still to use the same By what Authority the Canon may be thus perverted from its proper meaning Vindication p. 20. I am yet to seek But sure I am that never was the mind or meaning of that ancient Synod or if it had they would have put it in such terms whereby their mind and meaning might have been discovered in the former times But Zonaras whose glosses and interpretations I find sometimes approved by these later Scholiasts gives us another meaning of the Canon and no doubt a truere sure I am more agreeable to truth of story and the condition of those times And he expounds the same directly contrary to that which is by them intended and makes the meaning to be this That no man should have liberty to compose Forms of prayer or to recite them in the Congregation but only to adhere to those in Gods publick Service which had been countenanced and confirmed by long proscription Zonaras Comment in Concil Laodicen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So his own words are And this is quite against set Forms of ones own devising Nor could a worser choice in all antiquity have been pitch'd upon to countenance set Forms of ones own devising than was this notable Synod of Laodicea wherein there is so much determined for setling the received Forms and abrogating such abuses as had been crept into the same as in no other publick monument of this time and age Three of which Canons I shall here produce and those three which immediately precede that now in question By that we may perceive most manifestly how little hope is to be found from Laodicea how cold the wind blows from those Eastern parts The first takes care to regulate that part of publick Worship which did consist in singing Hymns or Psalms to the praise of God determining that none besides the ordinary and appointed Singers should go up into the Desk or Pulpit and sing out of the Parchments in the Congregation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cancil Laodicen Can. 15. That is the substance of the Canon And that as it excludes all other persons from singing in the Church but the publick Singers such as were called unto that Office so it excludes all other Books of that condition from being brought into the Church but the publick Parchments such as were framed and authorized for that very service Yet so that I conceive with Balsaman that is to be understood no otherwise than that it was not lawful unto every man to go into the Pulpit Balsam in
prayers been left to the discretion or ability of him that made them assuredly the Bishop or the Presbyters being men of greater gifts and more practised in them than the Deacons were supposed to be would not have left a business of that weight and moment to be discharged by men of the lowest Order themselves attending on the service as if not concerned And so much for and on occasion of the so Celebrated Council of Laodicea one of the ancientest upon true record in the Church of Christ You see by this that in the time of the renowned Constantine and long time before the Church was sorted and disposed into ranks and files and every sort of men had a particular Form of Service fitted and framed thereunto besides those Common-prayers wherein all did joyn We will next see whether they were not in condition as well to amplifie the times and beautifie the places of Gods publick worship as to agree upon the Forms and then we will go forwards in our purposed search till we have set the business above all gain-saying And for the times we shewed before with what a general consent they had transferred the Jewish Sabbath on the which God rested unto the first day of the week on the which Christ rose Nor was it long before they had their daily meetings and thereon their set hours of Prayer Morning and Evening as was proved before from S. Cyprians words To which was after added as appeareth by the Council of Laodicea before remembred an hour of prayer at nine of the Clock Concil Laodicen Can. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text which hours are still observed at nine of the Clock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text which hours are still observed in all the Cathedrals of this Kingdom Besides these as their numbers multiplied and their affairs were crowned by God with peace and happiness they instituted several Annual Festivals to be observed with greater solemnity and concourse of people than any of their ordinary Assemblies in memory of especial blessings which God had given them by his Son or conferred on them by his Saints Of these the Feasts of Easter and Whitsontide as they are most eminent so they are most antient as being instituted in the times of the Lords Apostles to which were added in short time the two days next following that so those seacred Festivals might be solemnized with the greater measure of devotion in which regard Easter is called by Gregory Nyssen Gregor Nyssen Homil. 1. de Paschat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the three days Feast See of this also Augustin de Civitate Dei l. 22. cap. 8. The Feast of Christis Nativity began if not before in the second Age. Theophilus Caesariensis who lived about the times of Commodus and Severus makes mention of it and placeth it on the 25th of December quocunque die 8. Calend. Januar. venerit so his own words are as we still observe it A Festival of so great erninency that Chrysostom entituleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother or Metropolis of all other Feasts Chrysost Orat. de Phalagon See for this also in Nicephorus where it will be found to have been universally received before the time of Dioclesians persecution who burnt many eminent Christians at Nicomedia whilst they were Celebrating this great Festival in the House God Niceph. histor Eccl. l. 7. c. 6. That of the Incarnation was ordained in the beginning of the third Century there being an Homily of Gregory surnamed Thaumaturgus who lived An. 230. entituled de Annunciatione B. Virginis another for of this there is made some question writ by Athanasius who lived in the beginning of the following Age whereof there is no doubt amongst Learned men That of the Passion or Good-Friday as we call it now is of the same Antiquity as the other was for we find mention of it in the Books of Origen Origen contra Celsum l. 4. And for the Feasts of the Apostles Evangelists and other blessed Saints of God they took beginning most of them in the time of Constantine who by his Edict gave command to all the Deputies and Lieutenants of the Roman Empire that the memorials of the Martyrs should be duely honoured Euseb de vita Constat l. 4. c. 23 and solemn Feasts to be appointed for that end and purpose most of which brought their Fasts or Vigils along with them The Church lost nothing of that power by our Saviours coming which she enjoyed and practised in the times before but did ordain both Feasts and Fasts too if she saw occasion and as she found it might conduce to the advantage of Gods publique worship Now as the Christians of these two Ages did augment the Times so they increased the places also of Gods publique worship In the first Age they had their meeting or Assemblies in some privage Houses which being separated from all profane and common use were by the Owners dedicated to Religious exercises and therefore honoured in the Scriptures with the name of Churches But as they grew in numbers so they grew in confidence and in these Ages had their Churches visible and obvious to the eyes of all men Witness hereto Ignatius the Apostles Scholar and Successor to St. Peter in the See of Antioch who lived in the beginning of the second Century and writing to the Magnesians an Epistle hitherto unquestioned by our modern Criticks doth exhort them thus Omnes ad orandum in idem loci convenite Ignat. Epist ad Magnes una sit communis precatio una mens una spes in charitate c. That is to say Assemble all together in the same place to pour fourth your prayers unto the Lord let there be one Common-prayer amongst you one mind one onely hope in love and an unblamable faith in Jesus Christ run all together as one man to the Temple of God as to one Altar as to Jesus Christ the High Priest of the uncreated and immortal God Witness hereto for the middle of this second Century two several Epistles of Pope Pius the first and those unquestioned hitherto which we shall have occasion to make use of in the last Chapter of this Tract and the sixth Section of that Chapter And finally witness hereunto for the close thereof these words of Clemens Alexandrinus where speaking of the spiritual Church or the Congregation of Gods Elect he doth phrase it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem Alex. Strom. lib. 7. I call not now saith he the place but the Congregation of Gods Elect by the name of the Church By which it is mosT plain and evident that the word Ecclesia or the Church signified in his time as well the place of the Assembly as the general body of the Congregation or Elect of God Now that these Churches mentioned by Ignatius in the first beginning and specially by Clemens in the latter end of this second Century were not only some rooms
erant omnia simpliciter tractabantur Petrus enim ubi conseeraverat oratione Pater noster usus erat Auxit haec mysteria Jacobus Episcopus Hierosolymitanus auxit Basilius auxere alii Nam Celestinus missae introitum dedit Gregorius KYRIE-ELEISON Gloria in excelsis Telesphorus c. These things saith he at first were but plain and naked For Peter when he Consecrated used the Pater noster James Bishop of Hierusalem much increased the mysteries the like did Basil and some others Celestine made the Introite Gregory added to it the Kyrie eleison Telesphorus the Gloria in excelsis Xistus the first put to it the trisagion or Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Gelasius the Collations perhaps the Collects The Gospel and Epistle were brought in by Hierom the Allelujah borrowed from Hierusalem the Creed from the Council of Nice the Commemoration of the dead by Pope Pelagius the kissing of the Pax by Innocent the first and Agnus Dei was not sung saith he till the time of Sergius If so then as not Rome it self so neither was the Liturgy of Rome made in one day It took up longer time than so to come unto that bulk and greatness in which now it stands But out of doubt a Liturgy it had in the best times of it So had the Church of Millain those of France Spain England not every where the same nor much different from it Facies non omnibus una Nec diversa tamen qualem decet esse Sororum as once the Poet said in another case And so it stood until the Western Empire was conferred on the Kings of France who by their power and the importunity of the Popes of Rome setled the Roman or Gregorian Missal over all the West Till those times they had several Liturgies as before was said That of the Church of Millain called commonly Officium Ambrosianum not because made by him originally but because he reduced it to a better and more setled Form is extant still and used by special sufferance in the Church of Millain to this very day So also for the antient Liturgy of the Church of Spain which they call the Mosarabick Liturgy Bellarm. de Missa lib. 2. c. 18. which received great increase both for Form and Order from Isidorus Hispalensis and therefore is most commonly ascribed to him it is still used in Toledo by the like permission Id. Ibid. By whom the Liturgy of Spain was first composed or setled it is hard to say that Countrey yielding but few Writers whose works have come unto our hands But sure a Liturgy they had long time before the birth of Isidore and that most punctually observed in the Cathedrals or Mother-Churches From which when the Parochial Churches began to vary as it seems they did the Council of Girona Concilium Gerundense the Latines call it An. 517. recalled them to their antient duty enjoyning them to hold conformity in all the acts of publick worship with the Mother-Church the chief Cathedral of the Province and that as well for the order of the service the Psalmody the Canon as the use and custom of the ministration Concil Gerund Can. 1. Sicut in Metropolitana Ecclesia agitur ita in Dei nomine in omni Tarraconensi Provincia tum ipsius Missae ordo quam psallendi vel ministrandi consuetudo servetur So the Fathers ordered By which it doth appear most fully that antiently the Church of Spain had its proper Liturgy a prescribed Form of ministration and that not only fitted for the use of the Cathedrals or Mother-Churches but such to which the Parish Churches were to yield conformity And for the Gallick Church though they have now no other Liturgy than that which they received from Rome power and practice of the Emperours of the Caroline race being most operative at home in their own dominions yet antiently she had a Liturgy of her own for which see Beda's History of the Church of England l. 1. c. 27. as had other Churches Concerning which it was thus ordered at the Council of Vannes a City of Gallia Lugdunensis Concil Veneticum Can. 15. ut intra Provinciam nostram sacrorum ordo or rather ordinis Psallendi una sit consuetudo That in that Province there should be one Uniform course in all sacred Offices and in the order of singing from thenceforth observed This was in An. 453. or thereabouts Not that there had not been before those times a setled and established Liturgy in the Church of France but that too many had presumed as is since done in other places to neglect their rules and venture on new Forms of their own devising Finally for the Liturgy of the Church of England for of the British Rites or Forms there is nothing certain it seems to be coeval with the Church it self whether we look upon the same as Reformed or Planted not borrowed or derived from Rome as both the Papist and the Non-conformist bear the world in hand but fitted to the best edification of this people ex singulis quibusque Ecclesiis Beda in bist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. our of the Rituals and received Forms of the most flourishing Churches at that time in being when first the Gospel was made known to the English Nation The passage is at large in Beda and thither I refer the Reader Nor was it otherwise than thus in the African Churches in case we should not reckon them as they are most commonly among the Churches of the West For besides what was noted from S. Cyprian in the former Chapter we find some fragments of the antient Liturgies in S. Augustine also Take this although not all as a taste for all Quod ergo in sacramentis fidelium dicitur ut Sursum corda habeamus ad Dominum August de bone perseverant c. 13 munus est Domini de quo munere ipsi Domino Deo nostro gratias agere à Sacerdote post hanc vocem illi quibus hoc dicitur admonentur dignum justum esse respondent Wherefore saith he that in the Sacraments of the Faithful it is said That we lift up our hearts unto the Lord is the Lords own gift for which all they who have affirmed so of themselves are after admonished by the Priest to give thanks to God which they acknowledge in their answer to be meet and right See to the same effect Epist 156. and in other places Which with the rest before observed out of other Fathers make it clear as day with what an high injustice they proceed against this blessed Church of England who have accused her for prescribing Responsories to be said by the people the Minister being as they say ordained by Scripture to be the peoples mouth to God Which Responsories I am sure Smectymn p. 12. I dare boldly say it are freer of Impertinencies and Tautologies though they charge this on them than any of the best of their extemporary prayers be
hand S. Hierom tells us in the general that in the act of Ministration they used a different Habit from what they ware at ordinary days and times Religio divina alterum habitum habet in ministerio alterum in usu vitaq communi Hieronym in Ezekitl c. 44. which is sufficient for the general that it was so anciently And what this different Habit was he tells us more particularly in his reply against Pelagius who it seems disliked it and asks him what offence it could be to God that Bishops Priests and Deacons or those of any other inferiour Order Id. adv Pelag. lib. 1. in administratione sacrificiorum candida veste processerint did in the ministration of the Sacraments bestir themselves in a white Vesture Nor was this white Vesture taken up in the West parts only which some observe to have been more inclinable to superstition than the Eastern were it was received and used in the East parts too as appears by Chrysostom Who shewing the Priests of Antioch of which Church he was unto how high a Calling the Lord had called them and how great power they had to repell unworthy Men from the Lords Table adds that they were to reckon that for their Crown and glory and not that they were priviledged to go about the Church in a white garment Chrysostom Hom. 83. in Matth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he pleads it there So antient is the use of white Vestments during the time of ministration in the Church of Christ and from those elder days it came down to ours being received long since in the Church of England For in the Constitutions made for the Province of Canterbury by Archb. Walter it was decreed with a praecipimus ut qui Altari ministrat suppelliceo induatur Linwood Provincial de officio Archidiaconi that he who ministred at the Altar should be attired in his Surplice And in the reformation of this Church both in the times of King Edward the VI. and Qu. Elizabeth of blessed memory when as the Church was freed from those massing garments which superstition in the declining times of piety had introduced into the same the Surplice was thought fit to be still retained by reason of its antient and unspotted pedigree from the Primitive times I know it hath been said by some that the first use hereof was heathenish and that it was first borrowed from the Priests of Egypt and I know well the Priests of Egypt were at their publick Sacrifices arrayed in white S. Hierom so informs me Hierom. in Ezekiel c. 44. Pliny Natural hist lib. 19. saying Vestibus lineis uti Aegyptios sacerdotes and so doth Pliny also in his Natural History who tells us Vestes lineus sacerdotibus Aegyptiis gratissimas esse And I could add that so it was in many of the Pomps and Sacrifices of the Romans also of which thus Virgil in the Aeneids Puraque in Veste Sacerdos Setigerae foetum suis intonsamque bidentem Attulit Upon which words it is observed by Servius param vestem dici qua festis diebus uti consueverant sacrificaturi Servius in Virg. Aeneid l. 12. that on the Festivals the Priests who were to sacrifice were cloathed in pure and unspotted Vestures But this seems better as I take it to shew the general use hereof amongst all Nations whatsoever that either worshipped the true God or adored the false than to be used as an argument to disgrace the Habit. For they which have been pleased to object that such a garment as the Surplice had antiently been worn by the Priests of Isis in their idolatrous and wretched sacrifices might have observed as well that before that time it had been imposed by the best Kings of Judah on the Priests and Levites when they sung praises unto God Vid. chap. 3. as was shewn before And if they should object from thence that it is Jewish at the best and so not fit to be continued in a Christian Church they may remember if they please that though it was a garment of the Priests and Levites yet was it none of those that were appointed or imposed for the legal Sacrifices but only was for the moral Service of Almighty God This makes it evident that as the white garment of the Priest or Levite was used in the moral service of God before it had been taken up by the Priests of Egypt so was it also used in the Primitive Church before it came to be abused by the Church of Rome Next for those Rites which were alike common both to Priest and people they did consist especially in those various Gestures which anciently were used amongst them according to the several parts of Gods publick Worship Sometimes they sate and that was commonly as it seems during the reading of the Lessons or whilest the Minister was in his Exhortation or at the singing of the Psalms And this I do collect out of Justin Martyr who shewing that the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles were read unto the people in the Congregation and that being done the President or Bishop went unto the Sermon then adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they all rose up together Justin Martyr Apol. 2. and betook themselves unto their prayers And in the place of Basil before remembred the Monks are said to rise up from their prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to proceed unto the Psalms Which as it shews that there were several gestures in the Act of Worship so I conceive that sitting was the gesture which was used during the Lessons Psalms and Sermon At other times they used to stand as at the Creed the Gloria Patri and at the reading of the Gospel Their standing at the Creed was antiently used to shew their readiness in standing for the Faith and the profession of the same before persecuting Judges never imposed by any Canon or decree of Council for ought I can find but taken up on the Authority of antient practice and afterwards much strengthned by a decree for standing up at the holy Gospels of which the Creed was but the summary or Abstract It was not long before the same gesture had been taken up for I find not that it was imposed by publique Sanction at the reading also of the Creed as being the sum and substance of the holy Gospels Et cum Symbolum est verbum Evangelicum quoad sensum ergo illud stando sicut Evangelium dicitur Durand rationale divin Of standing at the Gloria Patri we shall speak more at large in the following Section And as for the standing at the Gospel it was decreed if not before by Pope Anastasius by whom it was ordained Platina in vita Anastasii l. saith Platina Ne Sacerdotes ullo modo sederent sed curvi venerabundi starent cum evangelium caneretur aut legeretur in Ecclesia But by his leave the Decretal from which this must be taken goes a great deal further
at the end of every Psalm they should add these words Glory be to the Father and to the Son c. Which being thus ordained in the Churches of the Roman Patriarchate became forthwith admitted also into other Churches of the West as appears plainly by that Canon of the Council of Vaisons which you had before which I choose rather to refer with the Collector of the Councils to the time of Theodosius the 2d who lived after Damasus than with Baronius to the year 337. when no such Form to which that Canon doth relate had gotten any footing in the Western Liturgies Now the said Canon taking notice of a former usage of some other Churches where this Doxologie was added at the end of the Psalms ordains the like to be observed in the Churches of France quod nos in universis Ecclesiis nostris dicendum esse decrevimus Concil Valens Can. 5. as their words there are And to this purpose besides that of Cassian which we shall presently produce for another point we may add these words of Pope Vigilius he began his Popedom An. 535. who in his Epistle unto Eleutherius gives us this short note In fine Psalmorum ab omnibus Catholicis ex more dici Gloria Patri filio c. That is to say Ep. Vigilii in Concil Tom. 2. that Gloria Patri was subjoyned at the end of the Psalms according to the antient custom by all Catholick persons As for the gesture which was used both by Priest and People at the repeating of this Doxologie it was the same with that which is still retained They said it standing on their feet And this appears expresly by the words of Cassian who telleth us that in the Province of Gaul Narbonnoyse where he then lived it was the custom of the Church Cassian lib. 2. cap. 8. in clausula psalmi omnes astantes concinere cum clamore Gloria Patri c. That at the close of every Psalm the whole Congregation standing up did sing together with a loud voice Glory be to the Father c. Contrary to the custom of the Eastern Churches In which it is to be observed that the singularity noted by that Author to have been used in those Countreys at the pronouncing of the Gloria Patri was not in that the Congregation stood upon their feet at the repeating of the same which was most like to be the custom of the East Churches also but that it was subjoyned in Gaul Narbonnoyse as in all Churches of the West at the end of the Psalms whereas it was used only in the East at the end of the Anthems as before was shewn you from this Author Now Cassian was S. Chrysostoms Scholar if not his Convert and lived about the year 430. before the Church was overgrown with needless Ceremonies or that the native piety of the true Religion was overshadowed by the superstitions of the Church of Rome 'T is true we find not any Canon which enjoyned this gesture but that it was first taken up by the voluntary usage and consent of Christian people who might conceive that gesture to be fittest for it in regard that it contained not only a bare Form of giving glory to the Lord but also a profession of the Christian Faith in the great mystery of the holy undivided Trinity and therefore fit to be pronounced in that very posture in which from all Antiquity they rehearsed their Creed And being so taken up as before was said it hath been still retained in the general practice of the Church to this very day not by any Canon of the Church or decree of Pope or other Ecclesiastical Constitution but ex vi Catholicae consuetudinis by force of a continual Catholick custom which in such points as these hath the power of Law For though in Articles of the Faith which are the credenda of the Church we may say with Hierom Hieron advers Jovinian Non credimus quia non legimus We are not bound to submit our belief unto them but as they are expressed in the Word of God or else deduced from the same by plain and evident illation yet in the outward Forms of Worship which are the Agenda of the Church we must say with the good Fathers of the Nicene Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Nicen. Can. Let antient customs be observed and prevail amongst us And this is that for which S. Basil pleadeth so heartily in the very case of this Doxologie Where first he lays it for a ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That if we take away all unwritten usages from the Church of God as being of no efficacy in his publick service we shall do great detriment to the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in conclusion make the preaching of the Word but a powerless name Basil de Sp. S. c. 27. Of which kind he accounts and nameth the signing of the true Believers with the sign of the Cross 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their turning towards the East when they said their prayers the Form of Consecrating the Bread and Wine in the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper the hallowing of the Water for the Sacrament of Baptism the trina immersio used of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the renouncing of the Devil and his Angels still in use amongst us And of this kind was that particular gesture which is now in question not recommended to our observation by any particular Law or Canon but only by successional tradition and the continual practice of the Christian Church which is Authority sufficient for a greater matter And in this track the Church of England went at her Reformation when she ordained according to the antient Canons that at the end of every Psalm throughout the year and likewise at the end of Benedictus Benedicite Magnificat and Nunc dimittis shall be repeated Rubrick before Te Deum Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. But for the gesture to be used referred it to the antient practice of the Church of Christ as formerly the Church had done in the self same case Which practice hath been constantly preserved since the Reformation in all the Cathedrals of this Kingdom in the Chappels Royal and in some Parish Churches also to which and to the usage of the primitive times it is more just and reasonable that all particular persons should conform themselves than that the antient and unblamable usages of the Church of God should be changed and varied according to the wild affections of particular men The Church is now as much in danger to be infected and destroyed by the Socinian Blasphemies as ever heretofore by the Arian Heresies and therefore this Doxologie as necessary in these present times and to be said with as great reverence and solemnity by all good Christian people as in those before We cannot better make profession of our faith in the
holy Trinity than by this Form and in the constant uniformity of that antient Gesture which hath been recommended to us from the purest Ages and the most glorious lights of the Christian World CHAP. VIII Touching the Dedication of Churches and the Anniversary Feasts thereby occasioned 1. Dedication of Religious places used antiently by all Nations and the Reasons why 2. A Repetition of some things that were said before with reference and application to the point in hand 3. The Tabernacle consecrated by Gods own appointment and the consequents of it 4. Antiquity of the like Dedications amongst the Romans and by whom performed 5. The Form and Ceremonies used in those Dedications by the Antient Romans 6. The Antiquity and constant usage of such Dedications in the Church of Christ 7. Titulus and Encoenia what they signifie in the Ecclesiastical notion 8. The great Solemnities and Feasts used by the Jews and Gentiles in the Dedication of their Temples 9. As also by the Primitive Christians 10. Dedication Feasts made Anniversary by the Roman Gentiles 11. And by the Christians in the times of their greatest purity 12. Continued till our times in the Church of England 13. The Conclusion of the whole and the Authors submission of it to the Supreme Powers HAving thus found out Liturgies and set Forms of Worship in the best and purest times of the Christian Church together with certain places and appointed times for the performance of those Offices of Religious Worship in the said Liturgies prescribed It remains now that we speak somewhat as by way of Corollary touching the Dedication of those places in which those Acts and Offices of Religious Worship were to be performed it being consonant to Reason that holy Actions should be celebrated in an holy place and places are not otherwise hallowed than by the Dedication of them unto holy Use For howsoever in themselves they be but ordinary Houses made of Lime and Stone and may be put to any use which the Founder pleaseth yet being once consecrated by the Word and prayer they become forthwith Holy Ground and carry with them such an awful reverence in Religious minds as is not given to other houses houses to eat and drink in as the Scripture calleth them And so we are to understand that of Thomas Aquinas who in the stating of this Question hath resolved it thus Quod Ecclesia Altare alia hujusmodi inanimata consecrantur non quia sunt gratiae susceptiva Thom. 3. par qu. 83. Artic. 3. sed quia ex consecratione adipiscuntur quandam spiritalem virtutem per quam apta redduntur divino cultui Churches saith he Altars and things inanimate are not therefore consecrated because they are susceptible of any divine Grace conferred upon them but because they do obtain thereby some spiritual fitness which before they had not and which doth render them more proper for Religious Offices Besides which influence which they gain by these Consecrations on the minds of such who piously refort unto them they are thereby exempted also from the power of those by whom they were first built or founded who otherwise might challenge a propriety in them That which the ground and charge of building made the house of Man is made by Consecration the House of God and being once dedicated to his holy Service the property thereof is vested in him and in him alone The Founder cannot take it back or reserve any part of it for his own private use or pleasure without sin and sacriledg Such was that of Ananias Acts 5.2 who when he sold his House kept back part of the money as if he would divide the sum betwixt God and himself The Gentiles by the light of Nature had discerned thus much and therefore in the Consecration of their Temples they did use these words Se ex profano usu humano jure Templum cellam Alex. ab Alex. Gen. Dier l. 6. c. 14. mensas arulas quaeque eo pertinent eximere That is to say That they exempt from the right of Men and all profane and common usage the Temple Table Vaults and Altars and all things which pertained unto them appropriating them unto the service of that God to whom the Fabrick was intended in the Dedication A matter of such general use that it was commonly observed both by the Patriarchs before the Law by the Jews under the Law by the Gentiles without the Law and finally by the Christians being a body made up both of Jews and Gentiles in the times of the Gospel In looking over whose proceedings touching this particular and thereby justifying the right use of those Dedications we will first search into the Antiquity Universality and first Authors of them next into the great Solemnities and magnificent Feasts accustomably observed in them and finally on the Annual Revolution of those solemn Feasts appointed by all sorts of Men in memorial of them And first for laying down the Antiquity and first Authors of them it is necessary that we look back on something which was said before touching the practice of the Patriarchs and some of the godly Princes of the House of Jacob. And first whereas the Scripture telleth us of Abraham that he planted a Grove in Beersheba and called there on the Name of the Lord Gen. 21.33 the everlasting God The meaning of which place is by Expositors left uncertain as before we noted yet the succeding practice both of Jews and Gentiles in consecrating Groves for superstitious and Idolatrous Uses mention whereof is very frequent in the Scriptures makes it plain and evident that they concdeived this planting of a Grove by Abraham was but the consecrating of it to the service of God for invocating on the Name of the Lord Jehovah Greater Antiquity than this as we need not seek so a more holy Author of those Dedications we can hardly find And yet the practice and Authority of Jacob is not much short of it either in point of reputation or respect of time of whom it is recorded that he took the Stone which he had put for his Pillow Gen. 28.17 and set it up for a Pillar and poured Oyl on the top of it and then and not till then that it was thus consecrated he called the name of the place BETHEL which by interpretation is the House of God Look what effect this Act of Jacob did produce and we shall find first that God took unto himself the name of the God of Bethel as a place dedicated for his Worship Gen. 31. v. 13. And secondly that in reference to this Consecration it was thought the fittest place for Jacob even by God himself to offer sacrifice to the Lord and to pay his vows Gen. 35.16 Nor can I doubt but that when Jeroboam the Son of Nebat made choice of Bethel 1 Kings 12.9 to be the seat for one of his Golden Calves he had respect unto the consecration of this place by the
had any thing to do in the Land at all For as I am informed by Sir Edward Coke in his Comment upon Littletons Tenures lib. 1. cap. 9. Sect. 73. fol. 58. It appeareth by the Laws and Ordinances of ancient Kings and especially of King Alfred that the first King of this Realm had all the lands of England in Demesne and les grands manours royalties they reserved to themselves and with the remnant they for the defence of the Realm enfeoffed the Barons of the Realm with such jurisdiction as the Court Baron now hath So he the professed Champion of the Common Laws And at this time it was when all the Lands in England were the Kings Demesne that Ethelwolph the second Monarch of the Saxon race his father Egbert being the first which brought the former Heptarchie under one sole Prince conferred the Tithes of all the Kingdom upon the Church by his royal Charter Of which thus Ingulph Abbot of Crowland an old Saxon Writer a Anno 855. Rex Ethelwulfus omnium Praelatorum Principum suorum qui sub ipso variis Provinciis totius Angliae praeerant gratuito Consensu tunc primo cum decimis terrarum bonorum aliorum sive catallorum universam dotavit Ecclesiam per suum Regium Chirographum Ingulph Anno 855. which was the 18. of his Reign King Ethelwulph with the consent of his Prelates and Princes which ruled in England under him in their several Provinces did first enrich the Church of England with the Tithes of all his Lands and Goods by his Charter Royal. Ethelward an old Saxon and of the blood Royal doth express it thus b Decimavit de omni possessione sua in partem Domini in universo regimine Principatus sui sic constituit Ethelward He gave the Tithe of his possessions for the Lords own portion and ordered it to be so in all the parts of the Kingdom under his command Florence of Worcester in these words c Aethelwulphus Rex decimam totius Regni sui partem ab omni Regali servitio tributo liberavit in sempiterno Graphio in Cruce Christi pro Redemptione Animae suae Praedecessorum suorum uni trino Deo immolavit Florent Wigorn. King Ethelwolfe for the Redemption of his own soul and the souls of his Predecessors discharged the tenth part of his Realm of all Tributes and Services due unto the Crown and by his perpetual Charter signed with the sign of the Cross offered it to the three-one God Roger of Hovenden hath it in the self same words and Huntingdon more briefly thus d Totam terram suam propter amorem Dei Redemptionem ad opes Ecclesiarum decimavit Henr. Huntingd. That for the love of God and the redemption of his soul he tithed his whole Dominions to the use of the Church But what need search be made into so many Authors when the Charter it self is extant in old Abbot Ingulph and in Matthew of Westminster and in the Leiger Book of the Abbey of Abingdon which Charter being offered by the King on the Altar at Winchester in the presence of his Barons was received by the Bishops and by them sent to be published in all the Churches of their several Diocesses a clause being added by the King saith the Book of Abingdon That whosoever added to the gift e Qui augere voluerit nostram donationem augeat omnipotens Deus dies ejus prosperos siquis vero mutare vel minuere praesumpserit noscat se ad Tribunal Christi redditurum rationem nisi prius satisfactione emendaverit God would please to prosper and increase his days but that if any did presume to diminish the same he should be called to an account for it at Christs Judgment-seat unless he made amends by full satisfaction In which as in some other of the former passages as there is somewhat savouring of the errour of those darker times touching the merit of good works yet the authorities are strong and most convincing for confirmation of the point which we have in hand Now that the King charged all the Lands of the Kingdom with the payment of Tithes and not that only which he held in his own possession is evident both by that which was said before from Sir Edward Coke and by the several passages of the former Authors For if all the Lands in the Kingdom were the Kings Demesnes and the King conferred the Tithes of all his Lands on the Church of God it must follow thereupon that all the Lands of the Realm were charged with Tithes before they were distributed amongst the Barons for defence of the Kingdom And that the Lands of the whole Realm were thus charged with Tithes as well that which was parted in the hands of Tenants as that which was in the occupancy of the King himself the words before alledged do most plainly evidence where it is said that he gave the tenth of all his Lands as Ingulph the Tithe of his whole Land as Henry of Huntingdon the tenth part of his whole Kingdom as in Florence of Worcester the tenth part of the Lands throughout the Kingdom in the Charter it self And finally in the Book of Abingdon the Charter is ushered in with this following Title viz. Quomodo Ethelwolfus Rex dedit decimam partem regni sui Ecclesiis that is to say how Ethelwolf gave unto the Church the tenth part of his Kingdom This makes it evident that the King did not only give de facto the Tithe or the tenth part of his whole Realm to the use of the Clergy but that he had a right and a power to do it as being not only the Lord Paramount but the Proprietary of the whole Lands the Lords and great Men of the Realm not having then a property or estates of permanency but as accomptants to the King whose the whole land was And though it seems by Ingulph their consents were asked and that they gave a free consent to the Kings Donation yet was this but a matter of Form and not simply necessary their approbation and consent being only asked either because the King was not willing to do any thing to the disherison of his Crown without the liking and consent of the Peers or that having their consent and approbation they should be barred from pleading any Tenant-right and be obliged to stand in maintenance and defence thereof against all pretenders And this appears yet further by a Law of King Athelstanes made in the year 930 about which time not only the Prelates of the Church as formerly but the great Men of the Realm began to be setled in Estates of permanency and to claim a property in those Lands which they held of the Crown and claiming so begun it seems to make bold to subduct their Tithes For remedy whereof the King made this Law commanding all his Ministers throughout the Kingdom that in the first place they should pay the Tithes
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 theâ—â— 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 â—â—â—â—tuation 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether it were not lawful for Saint Peter to have chose the man And then he answereth positively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. what saith he did it come on the twelve alone not upon the rest And then he answereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
to the best edifying of the Church For thus we read how Paul disposed of Timothy and Titus who were both Evangelists sending them as the occasions of the Church required from Asia to Greece and then back to Asia and thence to Italy How he sent Crescens to Galatia 2 Tim. 4. Titus to Dalmatia Tychicus to Ephesus commanding Erastus to abide at Corinth and using the Ministery of Luke at Rome 1 Cor. 14. So find we how he ordered those that had the spirit of Prophecy and such as had the gift of tongues that every one might use his talent unto edification how he ordained Bishops in one place Elders or Presbyters in another as we shall se◠hereafter in this following story The like we may affirm of Saint Peter also and of the rest of the Apostles though there be less left upon record of their Acts and Writings than are remaining of Saint Paul whose mouths and pens being guided by the Holy Ghost have been the Canon ever since of all saving truth For howsoever Mark and Luke two of the Evangelists have left behind them no small part of the Book of God of their own enditing yet were not either of their writings reckoned as Canonical in respect of the Authors but as they had been taken from the Apostles mouths and ratified by their Authority as both Saint Luke himself Luk. 1. Hieron in Marc. Clemens apud Euseb l. 2. c. 15. Act. 8.12 v. 14 15 17. and the Fathers testifie And for a further mark of difference between the Apostles and the rest of the Disciples we may take this also that though the rest of the Disciples had all received the Holy Ghost yet none could give the same but the Apostles only Insomuch that when Philip the Evangelist had preached the Gospel in Samaria and converted many and Baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ yet none of them received the Holy Ghost till Peter and John came down unto them and prayed for them and laid their hands on them as the Scriptures witness That was a priviledge reserved to the Apostles and to none but them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 18. in Act. 8. as it is in Chrysostom And when the two Apostles did it they did it without Philips help or co-operation who joyned not in it nor contributed at all to so great a work for ought we find in holy Scripture In this regard it is no marvel if in the enumerating of those ministrations which did concur in the first founding of the Church the Apostles always have preheminence First 1 Cor. 12.28 Apostles Secondarily Prophets Thirdly Teachers c. as Saint Paul hath ranked them Nor did he rank them so by chance but gave to every one his proper place Hom. 32. in 1. ad Cor. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Chrysostom first placing that which was most excellent and afterwards descending unto those of a lower rank Which plainly shews that in the composition of the Church there was a prius and posterius in regard of order a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or more honourable as the Father calls it in regard of power as in the constitution of the body natural to which the Church is there resembled some of the members do direct and some obey some of them being honourable 1 Cor. 12.22 23. some feeble but all necessary The like may also be observed out of the 4. chap. of the same Apostle unto the Ephesians where the Apostles are first placed and ranked above the rest of the ministrations Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers of which some were to be but temporary in the Church of God the others to remain for ever Hom. 11. in Ephes 4. For as Saint Chrysostom doth exceeding well expound that Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First he doth name Apostles as they in whom all powers and graces were united Secondly Prophets such as was Agabus in the Acts Thirdly Evangelists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as had made no progress into many Countries but preached the Gospel in some certain Regions as Aquila and Priscilla and then Pastors and Teachers who had the government of a Country or Nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as were setled and employed in a certain place or City as Timothy and Titus If then a question should be made whom S. Paul meaneth here by Pastors and Teachers I answer it is meant of Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father hath it such as were placed over some certain Cities and that the Bishops were accounted in the ancient times the only ordinary Pastors of the Church in the room and stead of the Apostles we shall shew hereafter Chap. 6. n. And this I am the rather induced to think because that in the first Epistle to those of Corinth written when as there were but few Bishops of particular Cities S. Paul doth speak of Teachers only but here in this to the Ephesians writ at such time as Timothy and Titus and many others had formerly been ordained Bishops he adds Pastors also Theoph. Oecum in Ephes 4.4.11 Certain I am that both Theophylact and Oecumenius do expound the words by Bishops only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such Bishops as both Timothy and Titus were by them accounted Nay even Saint Hierome seemeth to incline this way Hieron in Ephes 4. making the Prelates of the Church or the Praesides Ecclesiae as he calls them there to be the Pastors and Teachers mentioned by Saint Paul i.e. Pastores ovium magistros hominum Pastors in reference to their Flocks Teachers in reference to their Disciples But to go on unto our story Our Saviour having thus enabled and supplyed his labourers with the gifts and graces of his Spirit it could not be but that the Harvest went on apace Act. 2.41.47 The first day added to the Church 3000 souls And after that God added daily to it such as should be saved The miracle wrought by the hands of the two Apostles at the Beautiful gate Act. 3.2 opened a large door to the further increase thereof For presently upon the same and Peters Sermon made upon that occasion we find that the number of the men which heard the word and believed Act. 4.4 was about five thousand Not that there were so many added to the former number as to make up five thousand in the total but that there were five thousand added to the Church more than had been formerly S. Chrysostom and Oecumenius Chrys hom 10. in Act. 4. hom 25. in Act. 11. both affirming that there were more converted by this second Sermon of Saint Peters than by the first So that the Church increasing daily more and more multitudes both of men and women being continually added to the Lord and their numbers growing dreadful to the Jewish Magistrates Act. 5.14 it seemed good to the Apostles Vers 26 who by the intimation of the
scattered and dispersed abroad the Gospel was by them disseminated in all the parts and Countreys where they came and Saul himself being taken off even in the middle of his fury became the greatest instrument of Gods power and glory in the converting of the Gentiles For presently upon his own Conversion we find him Preaching in the Synagogues of Damascus Act. 9.20.22 Gal. 1.17 18. Act. 9 30. Act. 11.26 thence taking a long journey into Arabia from thence returning to Hierusalem afterwards travelling towards Tarsus his own native soyl and thence brought back to Antioâ—h by the means of Barnabas And all this while I look upon him as an Evangelist only a constant and a zealous Preacher of the Gospel of Christ in every Region where he travelledâ— His calling unto the Apostleship was not until the Holy Ghost had said unto the Prophets Lucius Act. 13.1 2. Simeon and Manahen ministring then in Antiochia Separate mihi Barnabam Saulum separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them An extraordinary call and therefore done by extraordinary means and Ministers For being the persons here employed in this Ordination neither were Apostles nor yet advanced for ought we find unto the estate and honour of Episcopacy it most be reckoned amongst those Extraordinaries which God pleased to work in and about the calling of this blessed Apostle Of which we may affirm with Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom hom 20. in Act. that of the things which did befall S. Paul in his whole vocation there was nothing ordinary but every part was acted by the hand of God God in his extraordinary works ties not himself to ordinary means and courses but takes such ways and doth imploy such instruments as himself best pleaseth for the more evident demonstration of his power and glory So that however Simeon Manahen and Lucius did lay hands upon him yet being the call and designation was so miraculous he might well say that he was made an Apostle neither of men nor by men but of Jesus Christ and God the Father Chrysostom so expounds the place Not of Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 1. v. 1. Hom. 27. in Act so to make it manifest that he received not his call from them not by men because he was not sent by them but by the Spirit As for the work to which he was thus separated by the Lord ask the said Father what it was and he will tell you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was the office of an Apostle and that he was ordained an Apostle here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might Preach the Gospel with the greater power Ask who it was that did ordain him and he will tell you that howsoever Manahen Lucius and Simeon did lay hands upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet he received his Ordination by the Holy Ghost And certainly that he had not the Apostleship before may be made manifest by that which followed after For we do not find in all the story of his Acts that either he ordained Presbyters or gave the Holy Ghost or wrought any miracles which were the signs of his Apostleship before this solemn Ordination 2 Cor. 12.11 or imposition of the hands of the said three Prophets as afterwards we find he did in several places of that book and shall now shew as it relates unto our present business in that which followeth Paul being thus advanced by God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ to the high place of an Apostle immediately applyeth himself unto the same Preaching the Word with power and miracles in the Isle of Cyprus Act. 13.11 c. from thence proceeding to Pamphylia and other Provinces of the lesser Asia every where gaining Souls to Almighty God Having spent three years in those parts of Asia and planted Churches in a great part thereof he had a mind to go again to Antioch Act. 14.26 from whence be had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which he had fulsilled But fearing lest the Doctrine he had Preached amongst them might either be forgotten or produce no profit if there were none left to attend that service Before he went he thought it fitting to found a Ministery amongst them in their several Churches To this end They i.e. He and Barnabas ordained them Presbyters in every Church with prayer and fasting Act. 14.23 and that being done they recommended him unto the Lord in whom they believed This is the first Ordination which we find of Presbyters in holy Scripture though doubtless there were many before this time The Church could neither be instructed nor consist at all without an ordinary Minister left amongst the people for the Administration of the Word and Sacraments However this being as I said the first record thereof in holy Scripture we will consider hereupon first to what Office they were called which are here called Presbyters Secondly by whom they were Ordained And thirdly by what means they were called unto it First for the Office what it was I find some difference amongst Expositors as well new as old Beza conceives the word in a general sense and to include at once Pastors and Deacons and whoever else were set apart for the rule and government of the Churches to them committed Annot. in Act. 14. v. 23. Presbyteros i.e. Pastores Diaconos alios Ecclesiae gubernationi praefectos as his own words are Here we have pastors Deacons Governours included in this one word Presbyters Ask Lyra who those Governours were Lyra in Act. 14. which Beza calls praefecti in a general name and he will tell you they were Bishops Nomine Presbyterorum hic intelliguntur etiam alii Ecclesiae Ministri ut Episcopi Diaconi Under the name of Presbyters saith he are comprehended also other Ecclesiastical Ministers as Bishops and Deacons Gloss Ordinar in Act. 14. The ordinary gloss agrees herewith as to that of Bishops and gives this reason for the same Illo autem tempore ejusdem erant nominis Episcopi Presbyteri that in that time Bishops and Presbyters were called by the same name Oecum in Act. 14. And Oecumenius holds together with them as to that of Deacons nothing that Paul and Barnabas had Epifcopal Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that they did not only ordain Deacons but also Presbyters So that it seemeth Saint Paul provided here against all occasions fetling the Churches by him planted in so sure a way that there was nothing left at random which either did relate to government or point of Doctrine And yet if any shall contend that those who here are called Presbyters were but simply such according to the notion of that word as it is now used I shall not much insist upon it I only shew what other Authors have affirmed herein and so leave it off The next thing here to be considered is who they were that were the
Agents in this Ordination Cum constituissent illis when they had Ordained and they is there a relative and points to Paul and Barnabas mentioned v. 20. They preached the Gospel they returned to Lystra and finally they here Ordained Of any one that laid hands with them on these Presbyters heads which was the ceremony by them used in this Ordination as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth plainly manifest ne My Lucilianum not a word in Scripture Indeed it cannot be conceived that in those places wherein there were no men in Sacred Orders any should joyn with the Apostles in that sacred action So that the Presbyters which were here ordained could have no other hands laid on them than those of Paul and Barnabas if they joyned together and did not rather severally and apart perform that ceremony And if that the Apostles by the imposition of their own hands only could perform it now how came they to be shortned after how came they so devested of that sacred priviledge as to want others to be joyned with them and not to make a Presbyter without the co-assistancy of the Presbytery The Holy Ghost was no less powerful in them after this than it had been formerly neither did Paul or want or crave the help of any in giving of the Holy Ghost on the like occasions in the times that followed Certain I am Act. 19. v. 6. when Paul was at Ephesus though Timothy and others were then present with him yet none but he laid hands upon the twelve Disciples And yet upon the laying on of his hands The Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied Which if it were an Act of Ordination Beza Annot. in Act. 19. v. 1. as Beza thinks and it is likely so to be because the Text saith that they spake with tongues and prophesied then have we here more Presbyters created by laying on of Pauls hands only without help of others As for that passage in the first Epistle to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 wherein the Presbytery may be thought to lay hands upon him let it be ballanced with another in the second Epistle where the Apostle doth assume the whole performance to himself as his proper act and then the difference which appears will be quickly ended If Timothy received those gifts which did enable him for the Holy Ministery by laying on of Pauls hands only as it seems he did what interest could the Presbytery challenge in that sacred action If he received it joyntly from the Presbytery what influence had Saint Pauls hands on him more than all the rest Assuredly Saint Pauls hands were not grown so impotent that they needed help or that he could not give the graces of the Holy Ghost by laying on his own hands only as he had done formerly And therefore if the Presbytery did concur herein it was not that the business could not be performed without them but either to declare the good affections which they did bear unto the person or to express their joyful approbation of his calling to that sacred function 1 Tim. 1.16 1 Tim. 4.14 of whom so many Prophesies had gone out before or finally to contribute their prayers and blessings to the solemnity of so grave and great a work And so I think the business will be best made up if Paul be suffered to enjoy the honour of giving unto Timothy by the imposition of his hands the gifts and graces of the Spirit and the Presbytery be permitted not to want their share in the performance of the outward ceremony Certainly that the power of Ordination was in one alone that is to say in the Apostle is affirmed by Calvin Calvin in 2. ad Tim. 1. v. 6. Who having canvassed the point doth resolve at last Vnum tantum fuisse qui manus imponeret Which is indeed the safest tenet and most agreeable unto Antiquity Estius in 1. ad Tim. c. 4. v. 14. And therefore Estius in my mind did resolve it well when he did thus divide the business Ceremoniam impositionis manuum à pluribus fuisse adhibitam sed solum Paulum ea peregisse quae Sacramento erant substantialia Unless perhaps we may conceive as perhaps we may that Timothy received two Ordinations the one unto the Office of a Presbyter in which the Presbytery might concur as to the outward pomp or ceremony the other to the function of a Bishop in which because the Presbyters might not concur no not so much as to the outward act or ceremony he was Ordained by laying on of Pauls hands only The last thing offer'd to consideration is the election of the persons which are here ordained which some refer unto the people Concerning that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Saint Luke here useth doth signifie a popular manner of election used by the holding up of hands Ortum est hoc verbum ex Groecorum consuetudine Beza Annot. in Act. 14.23 qui porrectis manibus suffragia ferebant as Beza notes it on the place who hereupon translates the word Cum per suffragia creassent wherein he hath been followed by some Translators of our Bibles who express it thus When they had created Elders by Election But whatsoever use the word might have in the old Greek Writers assuredly it either had no such use now or if it had it quite excludes the people of those Churches from having any hand in this Election 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 however used amongst the Grecians to signifie the approbation of the people testifyed by the holding up of their hands yet in the Church-construction it signifyeth Ordination done by the laying on of hands And this to save the labour of a further search is very throughly avouched by Calvin Calvin in Act. c. 14. v. 23. where he acknowledgeth that amongst Ecclesiastical Writers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was used pro solenni ordinationis ritu for the solemn ceremony of Ordination which is in holy Scripture called Imposition of hands Particular instances hereof he that lists to see may find them gathered to his hand in the learned work of Bishop Bilson The perpet governm of Ch. Ch. c. 7. Calvin us supra before remembred But whereas Calvin hence collecteth that Paul and Barnabus permitted the Election of these Presbyters to the common suffrage of the people and that themselves did only preside therein Quasi moderatores ne quid rumultuose fieret only as Moderators of the business to see that it was fairly carried What other ground soever he might have for his conjecture assuredly he could collect none from the word here used For if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did signifie election by holding up of hands Id. ibid. qualiter in Comitiis populi fieri solet as in Assemblies of the people it did use to be as he himself affirms it doth Then certainly none but Paul and Barnabas holding up
their hands for none but they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priests and Ministers of God were made by Prophesie that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God saith he did elect thee to this weighty charge he hath committed no small part of his Church unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Titâ—m 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the daily Service used in the Church of God who also call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he which is the common Father of the Universe and therefore to take care of all as doth the Lord whose Priest or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he will tell you that it is the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were then in use for those I take it were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
neque Diaconus jus habeat baptizandi that without lawful mission from the Bishop neither the Presbyter nor Deacons might Baptize Not that I think there was required in Hieroms time a special Licence from the Bishop for every ministerial act that men in either of those Orders were to execute but that they had no more interest therein than what was specially given them by and from the Bishop in their Ordination As for the Act of Preaching which was at first discharged by the Apostles Prophets and Evangelists according to the gifts that God had given them for the performance of the same when as the Church began to settle it was conferred by the Apostles on the several Presbyters by themselves ordained as doth appear by Saint Pauls exhortation to the Presbyters 2 Tim. 4.5 which he called from Ephesus unto Miletum To this as Timothy had been used before doing the work of an Evangelist so he was still required to ply it being called unto the Office of a Bishop Saint Paul conjuring him before God and Christ that notwithstanding the diversions which might happen to him by reason of his Episcopal place and jurisdiction 2. Tim. 4.2 he should Preach the Word and not to Preach it only in his own particular 2 Tim. 2.15 shewing himself a Workman that needed not to be ashamed dividing the word of truth aright But seeing that others also did the like according to the trust reposed in them whether they had been formerly ordained by the Apostles or might be by himself ordained in times succeeding Those that discharge this duty both with care and conscience 1 Tim. 5.17 guiding and governing that portion of the Church aright wherewith they are intrusted and diligently labouring in the word and doctrine by the Apostle are accounted worthy of double honour Which questionless S. Paul had never represented unto Timothy but that it did belong unto him as a part of his Episcopal power and Office to see that men so painful in their calling and so discreet in point of government should be rewarded and encouraged accordingly By honour in this place the Apostle doth not only mean respect and reverence but support and maintenance as appears plainly by that which is alledged from holy Scripture viz. Thou shalt not muzzle the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn And the Labourer is worthy of his hiâ—e Chrysost hom 15. in 1 Tim. 5. Ambros in locum Calvin in 1 ad Tim. c. 5. Chrysostom so expounds the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By honour here is meant both reverence and a supply of all things necessary with whom agree the Commentaries which pass under the name of Ambrose Calvin affirms the like for our modern Writers Victum praecipue suppeditari jubet Pastoribus qui docendo sunt occupati Paul here commandeth that necessary maintenance be allowed the Pastor who laboureth in the Word and Doctrin And hereto Beza agreeth also in his Annotations on the place Now we know well that in those times wherein Paul wrote to Timothy and a long time after the dispensation of the Churches Treasury was for the most part in the Bishop and at his appointment For as in the beginnings of the Gospel the Faithful sold their Lands and Goods Act. 4. v. ult and laid the money at the Apostles feet by them to be distributed as the necessities of the Church required So in succeeding times all the Oblations of the faithful were returned in unto the Bishop of the place and by him disposed of We need not stand on many Authors in so clear a business Zonaras telling plainly that at the first the Bishop had the absolute and sole disposing of the revenues of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zonaras in Concil Chalcedâ—n Ca. 26. no man whoever being privy to their doings in it And that they did accordingly dispose thereof to every man according to his parts and industry doth appear by Cyprian where he informeth us that he having advanced Celerinus a Confessor of great renoun amongst that people and no less eminent indeed for his parts and piety unto the office of a Reader he had allotted unto him Cypr. Ep. 34. vel l. 4. ep 5. and to Aurelius one of equal vertue then a Reader also Vt sportulis iisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur that they should have an equal share in the distribution with the Priests or Presbyters But many times so fell out that those to whom the Ministry of the word was trusted Preached other doctrin to the People than that which had been taught by the Apostles 1 Tim. 1.3 Tit. 1.10 11. Vain talkers and deceivers which subverted whole houses teaching things they should not and that for filthy lucres sake What must the Bishop do to them He must first charge them not to Preach such doctrins which rather minister questions than godly edifying 1 Tim. 1.4 And if they will not hearken to nor obey this charge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1.9 he must stop their mouths let them be silenced in plain English The silencing of such Ministers as deceive the People and Preach such things they should not even for lucres sake to the subverting of whole Families is no new matter as we see in the Church of God Saint Paul here gives it as in charge to Titus and to all Bishops in his person Certain I am that Chrysostom doth so expound it If thou prevailest not saith he by admonitions Chrysost tom 2. n. Tit. 1. be not afraid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 silentium iis impone the Translator reads it but silence them that others may the better be preserved by it Hierom doth so translate it also quibus oportet silentium indici such men must be commanded silence Hieron in Can. Tit. And for the charge of Paul to Timothy that he should charge those false Apostles which he speaks of not to Preach strange doctrines it carries with it an Authority that must be exercised For this cause I required thee to abide at Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not that thou shouldst intreat but command such men to Preach no other doctrines than they had from me Theophylact on those words Theophyl in 1. ad Tim. c. 1. puts the question thus in the words of Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be asked saith he whether that Timothy were then Bishop when Paul wrote this to him To which he answereth of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is most probable giving this reason of the same because he is to charge those men not to teach other doctrines Oecumen in locum Oecumenius is more positive in the point and affirms expresly on these words that Paul had made him Bishop there before that time And Lyra if he may be heard Lyra in 1 Tim. c. 1. make this general use of the Apostles exhortation that the first Act here recommended to a Bishop is falsae doctrinae
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 â—i 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Augâ—st Traâ—â— 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 corrâ—pt grat c. 15. that yet the necessity
incumbent on the Pastoral Office doth many times inflict such sentences for the publick safety of the Flock I might be infinite in this search but that I have spoke somewhat to the point already and am moreover saved all further labour in it by our learned Andrews affirming positively and expresly Resp ad Epis Petri Motinaei Apud veteres Pastorum nomen vix adhiberi nisi cum de Episcopis loquuntur the name of Pastor is scarce used among the Ancients but when they have occasion to speak of Bishops And Binius in his Notes upon the Councils excepts against a fragment of the Synod of Rhemes said to be held Anno 630. as not of that antiquity which is there pretended and that he doth upon this reason only Eo quod titulum â—astoris tribuat Parocho because the stile of Pastor is there given to the common Presbyter Tom. 3. part 2. p. 978. contrary to the usage of those elder times And certainly it is no wonder that it should be so that he who is Episcopus Pastor animarum the Bishop and Pastor of our Souls as Saint Peter calls him 1 Petri 2 2â— should confer on them both his Titles since he hath substituted and appointed them to be his Vicars here on Earth The Pope may challenge if he will this Title to himself alone but since antiquity hath given it to all Bishops equally to every one as much as to him of Rome Saint Ambrose hath resolved it generally Ambros in 1. ad cor cap. 11. Episcopus personam habet Christi the Bishop saith he susteineth the person of Christ and therefore every Woman ought to behave her self before the Bishop as before her Judg giving this reason therewithal Quia Vicarius domini est because he is the Vicar of the Lord. The Commentaries on Saint Matthew ascribed to Chrysostom doth affirm the same Opus imperfect in Matth. hom 17. where shewing that such men as persecuted or molested those of the holy Sacerdotal Order were either Gentiles or at least sordid and sensless Christians he gives his reason for the same Quia nec intelligunt nec considerant sacerdotes Christi Vicarios esse because they neither understand nor do consider that the Bishops whom he there meaneth by Sacerdotes are the Vicars of Christ Saint Austin to the same effect Lib. qu. vet N. test qu. 127. as before Saint Ambrose The Bishop is to be more pure and pious than another man for he seemeth to sustein the person of God Est enim Vicarius ejus for he is his Vicar The Fathers in the Council of Compeigne Anno 833. thus Scire omnes convenit Concil Com. it behoveth all men to understand what is the nature of the Government or Ministry of Bishops Quos constat esse Christi Vicarios who as it evidently appears are the Vicars of Christ Nay even Blesensis Petr. Blesens Serm. 47. though he lived and writ when the Papacy was at the height makes this description of a Bishop Ordinatur Christi Vicarius Ecclesiae Praelatus c. He is ordained a Vicar of Christ a Prelate of the Church a Father of men and a Pastor of Souls So far the Ancients have attested to the present business and yet there is one Testimony more which as it is more ancient so it is as pertinent as any hitherto produced viz. The Declaration of the Fathers in the Council of Carthage Anno 258. or rather the attestation of the Fathers to that which was affirmed by Clarus of Muscala one of the Bishops there assembled who being to give his Vote upon the business then in agitation first thus laid his grounds Conc. Carth. sub Cypr. Manifesta est sententia Domini nostri c. The judgment of our Lord and Saviour JESVS Christ is plain and evident bequeathing that authority unto his Apostles which had been given him by his Father to which Apostles we are now the successours eadem potestate Ecclesiam Domini gubernantes governing the Church by that authority which they had before In which we see a clear and manifest derivation of this power this Vicarship from God the Father unto Christ from Christ to his Apostles and by them also to the Bishops and their successours in the Church for ever Not that each Bishop in particular hath some particular Apostle whom he doth succeed I conceive not so but that the Bishops generally do succeed the Apostles and are in general Vicars unto Christ our Saviour as to the general Government of the Church of God Apostolis datos esse Episcopos successores non siagulis Apostolis sed in solidum universis De rep Eccles l. 2. c. 5. n. 3. as the unfortunate Arch-Bish of Spalato hath right well observed conform unto the Tenet of the Fathers in this very point The sum of these three Sections then in brief is this Christ by the mission which he had from his heavenly Father devolves all power on his Apostles for teaching governing and directing his little flock and they being sensible of their own mortality ordain by like authority a line of Bishops to succeed them ad consummationem seculi by whom that care might be perpetuated In whom as there is plenitudo potestatis a fulness of authority for that end and purpose Amb. in Ep 4. the Bishop as is said by Ambrose being made up of all the Orders in the Church nam in Episcopo omnes ordines sunt as his words there are so he both doth and may assume such and so many associates assistants and subservient Ministers in partem oneris for the discharge of this great trusi as were assumed by the Apostles or ordained by them rather for the publick service of the Church Thus have we seen the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour dispersed in very little time over all parts and quarters of the World of so much of it at the least whereof the Acts and Monuments have been recorded to posterity and therewith a transmission also of that form of Government which was begotten by it and grew up with it Nor is there any doubt at all but that into what coasts soever the Lords Apostles preached the one they also in the same did plant the other The late discoveries of those parts and Countreys which were unknown unto our Predecessours make this clear enough there being no place nor Region how remote soever where there was extant any thing of the Christian Faith in which there were not found as apparent footsteps of the Episcopal form of Government A pregnant evidence that as the Lords Apostles were by the Holy Ghost instructed in that Faith which they were to preach so by the same eternal Spirit they were directed to that form of Government which they were to plant They could not else have fallen so unanimously on the self same project nor had God blessed it with so flourishing and fair increase a growth so suddain and miraculous had
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 coâ—â—st 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and erect another Altar for divine worship not being able to convict his Bishop of any impiety or injustice he is to be deposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be read in this place and time and there abide without the allowance of his Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
of his time it is clear and evident that Bishops had been setled even in those early days in many Cities wherein we do not find that any had been formerly ordained by the Apostles But how they were so setled and by whose authority hath in these later days been made a question Our Masters in the Church of Rome appropriate the power of instituting and erecting new Episcopal Sees to their Bishop only as being the only universal and supream Pastor of the Church Bellarmine hath resolved it so in terms express Bellarm. de Rom. pont l. 2. c. 12. Apostolorum proprium erat It properly pertained saith he to the Apostles to constitute Churches and propagate the Gospel in those Churches wherein it never had been Preached So far unquestionably true but what followeth after Et hoc ad Romanum Pontificem pertinere ratio experientia ipsa nos docet And that this doth belong to the Popes of Rome both reason and experience teach us Belong it doth indeed to the Popes of Rome so far we dare joyn issue with him but that it doth belong to the Pope alone and not to any other Bishops but by his sufferance and authority which is the matter to be proved that there is neither reason nor example for No reason certainly for if this did belong to all the Apostles as Bellarmine affirms it did then other Bishops which derive their pedigree from Andrew James John Paul or any other of the Apostles have as much interest herein as the Popes of Rome who challenge their descent from Peter And for Examples if they go by that they have a very desperate cause to manage 'T is true indeed that Clemens one of the first Bishops of the Church of Rome Ino Carnotens in Chron. M.S. citat à Patr. Junio did ordain several Bishops in his time and placed them in the chief Cities of those parts of Gallia which lay near unto him as viz. Photinus at Lions Paul at Narbon Gratian at Tours others in other places also as Ino Carnotensis hath reported of him But then it is as true withal that other Bishops did the like in their times and places Christianity and Episcopacy had not else in so short a time been propagated over all the World if those which dwelt far off and remote from Rome could not have setled and ordained Bishops in convenient places without running thither or having a Commission thence And though we have no precedent hereof in the present age yet we may see by the continual practice in the ages following that Bishops were first propagated over all the Churches by the assistance of such neighbour Churches in whom there had been Bishops instituted either by the Apostles and Evangelists themselves or by their Successors Frumentius being in some hope of gaining the Indians beyond Ganges to the faith of Christ was made a Bishop for that purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. Eccles hist lib. 1. c. 15. as the story hath it not by the Pope of Rome nor with his privity or consent that we can hear of but by Atbanasius the great and famous Patriarch of Alexandria Theodoret. hist Eccles l. 5. c. 4. And when Eusebius Samosatanus had a mind for the suppressing of the growth of Arianism to erect Dolicha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Author calls it a small City but greatly pestred with that Heresie into an Episcopal See we find not that he sent to Rome for a Commission but actually ordained Maris Bishop of the place and went himself to see him inthronized in the same So in like manner Saint Basil ordained Gregory Nazianzen Bishop of Sasima making that Town a Bishops See which before was none Gregor Presb. in vita Nazian and thereupon Gregorius Presbyter writing the life of Nazianzen calls it very properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishoprick or Episcopal See of a new foundation And thus Saint Austin also in the age succeeding erected an Episcopal See in Fussata a City or walled Town in his own Diocess of Hippo making one Antonius the first Bishop there August Epist Bellarm. de Ecc. lib. 4. c. 8. the Primate of Numidia returning with him in the Ordination Nor did they this as fain the Cardinal would have it à sede Apostolica facultatem habentes by force of any faculty procured from Rome which is gratis dictum but by their own proper and innate authority as they were trusted with the Government of the Church of Christ So then the Bishops only of the Church of Rome had not the sole authority of instituting Bishops where none were before That 's a dream only of the Pontifician Authority they had to do it as had others also and hereof doth occur a notable and signal evidence in this present Age viz. the setling of the Church of Britain and planting Bishops in the same by Pope Eleutherius Damas in vita Eleuther apud Bin. in Concil Tom. 1. Of him it is affirmed in the Pontifical ascribed to Damasus who lived about the year 370. accepisse Epistolam à Lucio Britannico Rege ut Christianus efficeretur per ejus mandatum that he received an Epistle from Lucius a British King desiring that by his authority he might be made a Christian Our venerable Bede a right ancient Writer thus reports the story Anno ab incarnatione Domini 156 Beda hist Eccl. lib. 1. c. 4. c. In the 156 year after Christs Nativity Marcus Antonius Verus together with Aurelius Commodus his brother did in the fourteenth place from Augustus Caesar undertake the Government of the Empire In whose times when as Eleutherius a godly man was Bishop of the Church of Rome Lucius King of the Britains sent unto him obsecrans ut per ejus mandatum Christianus efficeretur intreating by his means to be made a Christian whose vertuous desire herein was granted and the faith of Christ being thus received by the Britains was by them kept inviolate and undefiled until the times of Dioclesian Wherein as I submit to Beda as to the substance of the story so I crave leave to differ from him as to the matter of Chronologie For by this reckoning Eleutherius must attain the Popedom Anno 167. as Beda elsewhere doth compute it Beda in histor Epitom which is ten years at least before the time assigned him by most other Writers And therefore I shall rather chuse to follow the commonly received account by which the said two Emperours are brought upon the Government of the Roman Empire Anno 161. and the attaining of the Popedom by this Eleutherius is placed in the 17th year of Mareus Anno 177. Lucius Aurelius Commodus being dead before But in this Controversie as it belongeth to Chronology I shall not meddle at the present It is enough that the planting of the Gospel amongst the Britains was as the greatest so the first action of this Pope done by him as we read in Platina
as chief a fifth of all the Churches about Osroena and the parts adjoyning Bachyllus Bishop of Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Sâ—ectymn 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 7◠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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Bishop ought to have authority in the disposing of the things or goods that appertained unto the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
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
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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Origen was one of his Disciples Who after coming to the place himself Id. li. 6. cap. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which concern us most were his eight books inscribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are now not extant and those entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but made choice of James surnamed the Just to be the Bishop of Hierusalem that Peter on perusal of the Gospel writ by Mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. ib. c. 14. confirm'd the same by his authority for the advancement of the Church that James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. Ibid. cap. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returned to Ephesus from Patmos and going at the intreaty of his friends to the neighbour Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a whole Church or many Churches joyned together as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 matters of improvement and advantage and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subservient only thereunto then adds that in the Church of God the Deacons exercise the subservient Offices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
vocatur ad principatum sed ad servitutem totius Ecclesiae is not invited to an Empire or a Principality but to the Service of the whole Church And this he keeps himself to constantly in that whole discourse being the sixth Homily on the Prophet Esay in which although he afterwards doth call the Bishop Ecclesiae Princeps yet he affirms that he is called ad servitutem to a place of service and that by looking to his service well ad solium coeleste ire posset he may attain an Heavenly Throne And so much shall suffice for Origen a Learned but unfortunate man with whom the Church had never peace either dead or living From him then we proceed unto his Successor Heraclas an Auditor at first of Clemens â—â—sâ—b hist l. 6. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then of Origen who being marvellously affected with the great Learning of the man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made him his Partner in the Chair which after Origen was laid by Id. c. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he managed wholly by himself with great applause A man that had the happiness to succeed the two greatest Enemies in the world Origen and Demetrius the one in the Schools the other in the Church of Alexandria unto which honour he was called on Demetrius death who had sate Bishop there three and forty years On this preferment of Heraclas unto the Patriarchate the Regency of the Alexandrian Schools was forthwith given to Dionysius another of Origens Disciples who after fourteen years or thereabout succeeded also in the Bishoprick And here began that alteration in the Election of the Bishops of this Church which S. Hierom speaks of Hieron ad Evagrium The Presbyters before this time used to Elect their Bishop from among themselves Alexandriae à Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri unum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant as the Father hath it But here we find that course was altered though what the alteration was in what it did consist whether in the Electors or the condition of the party to be Elected is not so clearly evident in S. Hierom's words For my part I conceive it might be in both both in the unum ex se and the collocabant For first the Presbyters of that Church had used to choose their Bishop from amongst themselves Electing always one of their own body But in the choice of these two Bishops that course was altered these two not being Presbyters of the Church but Readers in the Schools of Alexandria and so not chosen from amongst themselves And secondly I take it that the course was altered as to the Electors to the Collocabant For whereas heretofore the Presbyters had the sole power of the Election to choose whom they listed and having chosen to enthrone him without expecting what the people were pleased to do the people seeing what was done in other Churches begun to put in for a share not only ruling but finally over-ruling the Election What else should further the Election of these two I can hardly tell but that their diligence and assiduity in the discharge of the employment they had took upon them the great abilities they shewed therein and the great satisfaction given thereby unto the people who carefully frequented those publick Readings had so endeared them to the multitude that no other Bishops could content them had not these been chosen And this I am the rather induced to think because that in a short time after the interess of the people in the Election of their Bishop was improved so high that the want of their consent and suffrage was thought by Athanasius a sufficient bar against the right of the Elected Atha in Epi. ad Orthodoxos affirming it to be against the Churches Canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the precept of the Apostles But which of these soever it was an alteration here was made of the ancient custom which is as much as is intended by S. Hierom in the words alledged How others have abused this place to prove that the imparity of Bishops is not of Divine Authority but only brought in by the Presbyters we have shewn before Part I. Cha. 3. But to go on with Dionysius for of Heraclas and his acts there is little mention we find the time in which he sate to be full of troubles both in regard of Persecutions which were raised against the Church without and Heresies which assaulted her within Novatus had begun a faction in the Church of Rome grounding the same upon a false and dangerous doctrine the sum whereof we find in an Epistle of this Dionysius Eus hist Ec. lib. 7. cap. 7. unto another Dionysius Pope of Rome And whereas Fabius Bishop of Antiochia was thought to be a fautor of that Schism he writes to him about it also Id. l. 6. c. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 7. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 7. c. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 7. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So when Sabellius had begun to disperse his Heresies he presently gives notice of it to Sixtus or Xystus Bishop of the Church of Rome as also unto Ammon Bishop of Bernice and Basilides the Metropolitan of Cyrenaica or Pentapolis and to divers others And when that Paulus Samosatenus began to broach strange doctrins in the Church of Christ although he could not go in person to suppress the same yet writ he an Epistle to the Bishops Assembled there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declaring his opinion of the point in question And on the other side when as the Persecutors made foul havock in the Church and threatned utterly to destroy the Professors of it Id. l. 6. c. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he by his Letters certifieth his neighbouring Bishops in what estate Gods Church stood with him with what heroick resolutions the Christians in his charge did abide the fury and conquered their tormenters by their patient sufferings so giving houour to the dead and breathing courage in the living Indeed what Bishops almost were there in those parts of Christendom with whom he held not correspondence with whom he had not mutual and continual entercourse by the way of Letters from whom he did not carefully receive in the self-same way both advice and comfort Witness his several Epistles besides those formerly remembred unto Cornelius Pope of Rome Id. li. 6. c. 38. commending him for an Epistle by him written against Novatus and giving notice to him of the death of Fabius and how Demetrianus did succeed him in the See of Antioch and also to the Church of Rome discoursing of the publick Ministeries in the Christian Church Witness that also unto Stephanus the Predecessor of Cornelius Id. l. 7. c. 2. Id. l. 7. c. 4. entituled De Baptismate a second to the aforesaid Stephanus about the faction of Novatus
To Dionysius Bishop of Rome besides that before remembred from Eusebius a second extant in the works of Athanasius And one to Paulus Samosatenus Athanas opera graec lat Tom. 1. p. 558. Euse l. 7. c. 24. Nicephorus Ecc. hist l. 6. c. 27. Biblio Patr. T. 3. edit Col. Bar. An. 265. Euseb bist l. 6. cap. ult the wretched Patriarch of Antiochia of which though there is no mention in Eusebius who tells us that he would not vouchsafe to write unto him yet is it intimated in Nicephorus who affirmes the contrray and extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum and in the Annals of Baronius It were an infinite and endless labour to recite all those which besides these inscribed unto the Bishops of the greater Churches he writ and sent to others of less note and quality as viz. to Conon Bishop of Hierapolis the Churches of Laodicea and Armenia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to whom not almost either Priest or Bishop that was of any merit and consideration in the Church of Christ If you demand to what end serves this general muster of the Epistles of this Prelate why I have brought them thus into the field in their ranks and files I answer that it was to let you see what was the ancient form of government in the Church of Christ before they had the happiness to live under Christian Princes and thereby opportunity of meeting in their General Councils For all the Apostles being furnished by our Lord and Saviour with an equality of power and honour pari consortio praediti potestatis honoris as S. Cyprian hath it Cyprian de Ecclesiae unitate by consequence all Bishops also were founded in the like equality So that the government of the Church as to the outward form and polity thereof was Aristocratical And being so there was in manner a necessity imposed upon the Prelates of the Church to maintain mutual entercourse and correspondence betwixt one another by Letters Messages and Agents for the communicating of their Councils and imparting their advice as occasion was in all omergent dangers of the Church For howsoever that the Church had followed in some things the pattern of the Roman Empire and in each Diocess thereof taking the Word according to the civil sense had instituted and ordained a Primate to whom the final resolution of all businesses did appertain that fell within the compass of that Diocess Yet all these Primates being of equal power and authority each of them absolute and independent with the bounds and limits of his own jurisdiction there was no other way to compose such differences as were either indeterminable at home or otherwise concerned the publick but this of mutual entercourse and correspondence And this what ever is opined unto the contrary both by the Masters and the Scholars in the Church of Rome who have advanced the Pope into the Soveraign or Supream direction in all points of doubt will prove to be the practice of the Christian Church in all times and Ages till the Authority of all other Churches in the worst and darkest times of Christianity came to be swallowed up in the gulph of Rome For presently upon the death of the Apostles who questionless had the frequent resort the final ending of all businesses which concerned the Church a full and plenary authority to direct the same Ruseb hist Ec. l. 3. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. c. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we find that Clemens one of their Disciples sends his Epistle to the Church of Corinth for the composing of some Schisms which were raised amongst them and that Ignatius Bishop of Antioch another of their Scholars sends the like to Rome for their confirming in the faith Besides which as he travelled towards Rome or rather was haled thither to his Execution he dispatched others of his Epistles unto other Churches and one amongst the rest unto Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna commending unto him the good estate of the Church of Antioch Id. l. 4. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The like we find of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth a right godly man of whose Epistles to the Lacedemonians Athenians Nicomedians and those of Crete as also to the Churches in Pontus nay to that of Rome conducing either to the beating down of Heresies or to the preservation of peace and unity or to the confirmation of the faith or rectifying of what was amiss in the Churches discipline there is full mention in Eusebius Thus when Pope Victor by his rash perversness had almost plunged the Church in an endless broil Id. l. 5. c. 23.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishops of these times bestirred themselves by publique writings to compose the quarrel particularly Irenaeus and Polyerates the one the Metropolitan of the Gallick the other of the Asian Churches And when that many of the Bishops severally had convocated Councils and Synodical meetings to make up this breach upon the rising of the same they sent out their Letters Ib. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying what they had Decreed advising what they would have done by all Christian people Ib. c. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For though Eusebius instanceth in none but the Bishops of Caesarea and Hierusalem in the records of which in two Churches he had been most versed which sent out these Synodical Epistles yet being so many other Metropolitans had called Synods also to the same intent I doubt not but they took the same course as the others did in manifesting their Decrees and Counsels Nay so exact and punctual they were in the continuance of this mutual amity and correspondence that there was almost no occurrence of any moment o◠consideration Id. l. 6. c. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 6. c. 10.16 Cyprian Epist 42. not so much as the death of some eminent Prelate and the succession of a new but they gave notice of it unto one another ending their Letters of congratulation unto the party so advanced Examples of the which in Ecclesiastical Histories are both infinite and obvious By means of which continual intercourse there was mainteined not only an Association of the several Churches for their greater strength nor a Communication only of their Councils for the publick safety but a Communion also with each other Optat. de Schi Donat. l. 2. as Members of the Mystical Body of our Saviour Christ And this is that Optatus speaks of when having made a Catalogue of the Bishops of Rome from S. Peter down unto Siricius who then held that place or as his words there are Qui noster est Socius who was his Partner or Associate in the common Government of the Church He adds Cum quo nobis totus orbis commercio formatarum in una communionis societate concordant with whom the whole world doth agree with us in one communion or society by Letters of intercourse and correspondence For Literae
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the number of them was innumerable Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria was required also to be there Id. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patriarch of the Church of Antioch acquainting them with the whole story of the business assembling also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. c. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to Govern or Administer Isocrat ad Nicoclen as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Isocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 â—cclesiae 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he should enjoy the place and honour of a Presbyter but if that pleased him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
more unto other men than you had just reason It is my chief ende avour as it is my prayer that possibly I may behold Jerusalem in prosperity all my life long Nor doubt I by the grace of God to reduce some of you at the least to such conformity with the practice of the Catholick Church that even your hands may also labour in the advancement and promotion of that full prosperity which I so desire This that I may the better do I shall present you as I said with the true story of the Sabbath and therein lay before your eyes both what the Doctrine was and what the practice of all former times and how it stands in both respects with all Gods Churches at this present First for the Sabbath I shall shew you that it was not instituted by the Lord in Paradise nor naturally imprinted in the soul of man nor ever kept by any of the Antient Fathers before Moses time And this not generally said and no more but so but proved particularly and successively in a continued descent of times and men Next that being given unto the Jews by Moses it was not so observed or reckoned of as any of the moral precepts but sometimes kept and sometimes not according as mens private businesses or the necessities of the state might give way unto it and finally was for ever abrogated with the other Ceremonies at the destruction of the Temple As for the Gentiles all this while it shall hereby appear that they took no more notice of it except a little at the latter end of the Jewish State than to deride both it and all them that kept it Then for the Lords day that it was not instituted by our Saviour Christ commanded by the Apostles or ordained first by any other Authority than the voluntary Consecration of it by the Church to religious uses and being Consecrated to those uses was not advanced to that esteem which it now enjoys but liesurely and by degrees partly by the Edicts of secular Princes partly by Canons of particular Councils and finally by the Decretals of several Popes and Orders of inferiour Prelates and being so advanced is subject still as many Protestant Doctors say to the Authority of the Church to be retained or changed as the Church thinks fit Finally that in all Ages heretofore and in all Churches at this present it neither was nor is esteemed of as a Sabbath day nor reckoned of so near a kin to the former Sabbath but that at all such leisure times as were not destinate by the Church to Gods publick service men might apply their minds and bestow their thoughts either about their businesses or upon their pleasures such as are lawful in themselves and not prohibited by those powers under which they lived Which shewed and manifestly proved unto you I doubt not but those Paper-walls which have been raised heretofore to defend these Doctrines how sair soever they may seem to the outward eye and whatsoever colours have been laid upon them will in the end appear unto you to be but Paper-walls indeed some beaten down by the report only of those many Canons which have successively been mounted in the Church of God either to fortifie the Lords day which it self did institute or cast down those Jewish fancies which some had laboured to restore Such passages as occurred concerning England I purposely have deferred till the two last Chapters that you may look upon the actions of our Ancestors with a clearer eye both those who lived at the first planting of Religion and those who had so great an hand in the reforming of the same And yet not look upon them only but by comparing your new Doctrines with those which were delivered in the former times your severe practice with the innocent liberty which they used amongst them You may the better see your errours and what strange Incense you have offered in the Church of God A way in which I have the rather made choice to walk that by the practice of the Church in general you may the better judge of those Texts of Scripture which seem to you to speak in the behalf of that new Divinity which you have preached unto the People and by the practice of this Church particularly it may with greater ease be shewed you that you did never suck these Doctrines from your Mothers Breasts It is an observation and a rule in Law that custom is the best interpreter of a doubtful statute and we are lesson'd thereupon to cast our eyes in all such questionable matters unto the practice of the state in the self-same case Si de interpretatione legis quaeritur imprimis inspiciendnm est quo jure civitas retro in hujusmodi casibus usa fuit Consuetudo enim optima interpretatio legis est De legib longa consuet If you submit unto this rule and stand unto the Plea which you oft have made I verily persuade my self that you will quickly find your errour and that withal you will discover how to abet a new and dangerous Doctrine you have deserted the whole practice of the Christian Church which for the space of 1600 years hath been embraced and followed by all godly men These are the hopes which we project unto our selves The cause of this our undertaking was your Information and the chief end we aim at is your Reformation Your selves my Brethren and your good if I may procure it are the occasion and the recompence of these poor endeavours Pretiumque causa laboris in the Poets language Nor would I you should think it any blemish to your reputation should you desert a cause which with so vehement affections you have first mainteined or that the world would censure you of too deep a folly should you retract what you have either taught or written in the times before Rather the world and all good men shall praise both your integrity and ingenuity in that you think it no disparagement to yield the better unto truth whensoever you find it Being men conceive it not impossible but that you may be in an errour and having erred think it your greatest Victory that you are conquered by the truth which being mighty will prevail and either here or elsewhere enforce all of us to confess the great powers thereof S. Austin and the Cardinal two as great Clerks as almost any in their times have herein shewed the way unto you one in his Retractations the other in his Recognitions nor did it ever turn unto their disgrace Therefore abandoning all such fond conceits as enemies unto the truth which I trust you seek and above all things wish to find let me beseech you to possess your souls with desire of knowledge and that you would not shut your eyes against the tendry of those truths which either here or elsewhere are presented to you for your information Which that you may the better do I do adjure you in the name and for the
the Levites were appointed in the times before to bear about the Tabernacle as occasion was the Tabernacle now being fixed and setled in Hierusalem there was no further use of the Levites service in that kind 1 Chron. 23.4 5. Therefore King David thought it good to set them to some new employments and so he hid some of them to assist the Priests in the publick Ministery some to be Overseers and Judges of the people some to be Porters also in the house of God and finally some others to be Singers to praise the Lord with instruments that he had made with Harps with Viols and with Cymbals Of these the most considerable were the first and last The first appointed to assist at the daily Sacrifices Verse 31. as also at the Offering of all Burnt-offerings unto the Lord in the Sabbaths in the months and at the appointed times according to the number and according to their custom continually before the Lord. Those were instructed in the songs of the Lord. Cpap. 25.7 The other were chiefly which were made for the Sabbath days and the other Festivals and one he made himself of his own enditing entituled a Song or Psalm for the Sabbath day Psalm 92. Calvin upon the 92 Psalm is of opinion that he made many for that purpose as no doubt he did and so he did for the Feasts also Josephus tells us Antiq. Jud. l. 7. c. 10. that he composed Odes and Hymns to the praise of God as also that he made divers kinds of instruments and that he taught the Levites to praise Gods Name upon the Sabbath days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other Festivals as well upon the Annual as the weekly Sabbath Where note that in the distribution of the Levites into several Offices there was then no such Office thought of as to be Readers of the Law which proves sufficiently that the Law was not yet read publickly unto the people on the Sabbath day Nor did he only appoint them their Songs and Instruments but so exact and punctual was he that he prescribed what Habit they should wear in the discharging of their Ministery in singing praises to the Lord which was a white linnen Rayment such as the Surplice now in use in the Church of England 2 Chron. 5.12 13. Also the Levites saith the Text which were the singers being arrayed in white linnen having Cymbals and Psalteries and Harps stood at the East end of the Altar c. praising and thanking God for his Grace and wercies And this he did not by commandment from above or any warrant but his own as we find and that he thought it fit and decent David the Prophet of the Lord knew well what did belong to David the King of Israel in ordering matters of the Church and setling things about the Sabbath Nor can it be but worth the notice that the first King whom God raised up to be a nursing Father unto his Church should exercise his regal power in dictating what he would have done on the Sabbath day in reference to Gods publick Worship As if in him the Lord did mean to teach all others of the same condition as no doubt he did that it pertains to them to vindicate the day of his publick service as well from superstitious fancies as prophane contempts and to take special order that his name be glorified as well in the performances of the Priests as the devotions of the people This special care we shall find verified in Constantine the first Christian Emperour of whom more hereaster in the next Book and third Chapter Now what was there ordained by David was afterwards confirmed by Solomon whereof see 2 Chron. 8.14 who as he built a Temple for Gods publick Worship for the New-moons and weekly Sabbaths and the solemn Feasts as the Scripture tells us so he or some of his Sucessours built a fair feat within the Porch thereof wherein the Kings did use to sit both on the Sabbath and the annual Festivals The Scripture calls it tegmen sabbati the covert for the Sabbath that is saith Rabbi Solomon 2 Kings 16. locus quidam in porticu templi gratiose coopertus in quo Rex sedebat die sabbati in magnis festivitatibus as before was said So that in this too both were equal From David pass we to Elijah from one great Prophet to anotyher both persecuted and both fain to flie and both to flie upon the Sabbath Elijah had made havock of the Priests of Baal and Jezebel sent a message to him that he should arm himself to expect the like The Prophet warned hereof arose and being encouraged by an Angel 2 Kings 19.8 he did eat and drink and walked in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights until he came to Horeb the Mount of God What walked he forty days and as many nights without rest or ceasing So it is resolved on Elijah as we read in Damascen De fide Orthod l. 4. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disqueting himself non only by continual fasting but by his traveling on the Sabbath even for the space of forty days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did without question break the Sabbath yet God who made that Law was not at all offended with him but rather to reward his vertue Andae qu. 122.8.15.4 appeared to him in Mount Horeb. So Thomas Aquinas speaking of some men in the old Testament qui transgredientes observantiam subbati non peccabant who did transgress against the Sabbath and yet did not sin makes instance of Elijah and of his Journey Wherein saith he it must needs be granted that be did travel on the Sabbath And where a question might be made how possibly Elijab could spend forty days and forty nights in so small a Journey Tostatus makes reply that he went not directly forwards but wandred up and down and from place to place ex timore inquiectudine mentis In locum partly for fear of being sound and partly out of a disquieted and afflicted mind Now whiles Elijab was in exile Benbadad King of Syria invaded Israel and incamped near Aphek where Ahab also followed him and sat down by him with his Army And saith the Text they pitched one over against the other seven days 1 Kings 20.29 and so it was that in the seventh day the Battel was joyned and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an bundred thousand footmen in one day Ask Zanchius what this seventh day was and he will tell you plainly that it was the Sabbath 14 4 Mandat For shewing us that any servile works may be done lawfully on the Sabbath if either Charity or unavoidable necessity do so require he brings this History in for the proof thereof And then he adds Illi die ipso sabbati quia necessitas postulabat pugnam cum hostibus commiserunt c. The Israelites saith he fighting against their Enemies
Hereticks before remembred had been hardly heard of it was plainly otherwise that day not only not being honoured with their publick meetings but destinate to a setled or a constant fast Some which have looked more nearly into the reasons of this difference conceive that they appointed this day for fasting in memory of Saint Peters conflict with Simon Magus which being to be done on a Sunday following the Church of Rome ordained a solemn fast on the day before the better to obtain Gods blessing in so great a business which falling out as they desired they kept it for a fasting day for ever after Saint Austin so relates it as a general and received opinion but then he adds Quod eam esse falsam perhibeant plerique Romani That very many of the Romans did take it only for a fable As for St. Austin he conceives the reason of it to be the several uses which men made of our Saviours resting in the grave the whole Sabbath day For thence it came to pass saith he that some especially the Eastern people Ad requiem significandam mallent relaxare jejunium to signifie and denote that rest did not use to fast where on the other side those of the Church of Rome and some Western Churches kept it always fasting Propter humilitatem mortis Domini by reason that our Lord that day lay buried in the sleep of Death But as the Father comes not home unto the reason of this usage in the Eastern Countreys so in my mind Pope Innocent gives a likelier reason for the contrary custom in the Western Concil Tom. 1. For in a Decretal by him made touching the keeping of this Fast he gives this reason of it unto Decentius Eugubinus who desired it of him because that day and the day before were spent by the Apostles in grief and heaviness Nam constat Apostolos biduo isto in moerore fuisse propter metum Judaeorum se occuluisse as his words there are The like saith Platina that Innocentius did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted Quod tali die Christus in sepulchro jacuisset quod discipuli ejus jejunassent In Innocent Because our Saviour lay in the grave that day and it was fasted by his Disciples Not that it was not fasted before Innocents time as some vainly think but that being formerly an arbitrary practice only it was by him intended for a binding Law Now as the African and the Western Churches were severally devoted either to the Church of Rome or other Churches in the East so did they follow in this matter of the Sabbaths fast the practice of those parts to which they did most adhere Millain though near to Rome followed the practice of the East which shews how little power the Popes then had even within Italy it self Paulinus tells us also of St. Ambrose that he did never use to dine nisi die sabbati Dominico c. but on the Sabbath the Lords day In vita Ambros and on the Anniversaries of the Saints and Martyrs Yet so that when he was at Rome he used to do as they there did submitting to the Orders of the Church in the which he was Whence that so celebrated speeeh of his Cum hic sum non jejuno sabbato cum Romae sum jejuno sabbato at Rome he did at Millain he did not fast the Sabbath Nay which is more Epist â—6 Saint Augustine tells us that many times in Africa one and the self-same Church at least the several Churches in the self-same Province had some that dined upon the Sabbath and some that fasted And in this difference it stood a long time together till in the end the Roman Church obtained the cause and Saturday became a Fast almost through all the parts of the Western World I say the Western World and of that alone The Eastern Churches being so far from altering their ancient custom that in the sixth Council of Constantinople Anno 692 they did admonish those of Rome to forbear fasting on that day upon pain of Censures Which I have noted here in its proper place that we might know the better how the matter stood between the Lords day and the Sabbath how hard a thing it was for one to get the mastery of the other both days being in themselves indifferent for sacred uses and holding by no other Tenure than by the courtesie of the Church Much of this kind was that great conflict between the East and Western Churches about keeping Easter and much like conduced as it was maintained unto the honour of the Lords Day or neglect thereof The Passeover of the Jews was changed in the Apostles times to the Feast of Easter the anniversary memorial of our Saviours Resurrection and not changed only in their times but by their Authority Certain it is that they observed it for Polycarpus kept it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both with Saint John and with the rest of the Apostles as Irenaeus tells us in Eusebius's History Lib. 5. c. 26. The like Polycarpus affirms of Saint Philip also whereof see Euseb l. 5. c. 14. Nor was the difference which arose in the times succeeding about the Festival it self but for the time wherein it was to be observed The Eastern Churches following the custom of Hierusalem kept it directly at the same time the Jews did their Passeover and at Hierusalem they so kept it the Bishops there for fifteen several successions being of the Circumcision the better to content the Jews their Brethren and to win upon them But in the Churches of the West they did not celebrate this Feast decima quarta lunae upon what day soever it was as the others did but on some Sunday following after partly in honour of the day and partly to express some difference between Jews and Christians A thing of great importance in the present case For the Christians of the East reflected not upon the Sunday in the Annual return of so great a Feast but kept it on the fourteenth day of the month be it what it will it may be very strongly gathered that they regarded not the Lords Day so highly which was the weekly memory of the Resurrection as to prefer that day before any other in their publick meetings And thereupon Baronius pleads it very well that certainly Saint John was not the Author of the contrary practice Annal. An. 15 9. as some gave it out Nam quaenam potuit esse ratio c. For what saith he might be the reason why in the Revelation he should make mention of the Lords Day as a day of note and of good credit in the Church had it not got that name in reference to the Resurrection And if it were thought fit by the Apostles to celebrate the weekly memory thereof upon the Sunday then to what purpose should they keep the Anniversary on another day And so far questionless we may joyn issue with
Musick used in the Congregation it grew more exquisite in these times than it had been formerly that which before was only a melodious kind of pronunciation being now ordered into a more exact and artificial Harmony This change was principally occasioned by a Canon of the Council of Laodicea in the first entrance of this Age. For where before it was permitted unto all promiscuously to sing in the Church it was observed that in such dissonancy of Voices and most of them unskilful in the notes of Musick there was no small jarring and unpleasant sounds This Council thereupon ordained Conc. Laodic Can. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that none should sing hereafter in the Congregation but such as were Canonically appointed to it and skilful in it By means whereof before the shutting up of this fourth Century the Musick of the Church became very perfect and harmonious suavi artificiosa voce cantata Confess l. 10. cap. 33. as St. Austin tells us So perfect and harmonious that it did work exceedingly on the affections of the Hearers and did movere animos ardentius in flammam pietatis inflame their minds with a more lively flame of Piety taking them Prisoners by the ears and so conducting them unto the glories of Gods Kingdom Ibid. Saint Austin attributes a great cause of Conversion to the power thereof calling to mind those frequent tears quas fudi ad cantus Ecclesiae tuae which had been drawn from him by this sacred Musick by which his soul was humbled and his affections raised to an height of godliness The like he also tells us in his ninth Book of Confessions and sixth Chapter Nor doubt we but it did produce the same effect on divers others who coming to the Churches as he then did to be partakers of the Musick return'd prepared in mind and well disposed in their intentions to be converted unto God Now that the Church might be frequented at the times appointed and so all secret Conventicles stopped in these divided times wherein so many Heresies did domineer and that the itching ears of men might not persuade them to such Churches where God had not placed them so to discourage their own proper Minister it pleased the Fathers in the Council of Saragossa Anno 368. â—an 2. or thereabouts to decree it thus First Ne latibulis cubiculorum montium habitent qui in suspicionibus perseverent that none who were suspected of Priscillianism which was the humour that then reigned should lurk in secret corners either in Houses or in Hills but follow the example and direction of the Priests of God And secondly ad alienas villas agendorum conventuum causa non conveniant that none should go to other places under pretence of joyning there to the Assembly but keep themselves unto their own Which prudent Constitutions upon the self-same pious grounds are still preserved amongst us in the Church of England Thus do we see upon what grounds the Lords day stands on custom first and voluntary consecration of it to religious Meetings that custom countenanced by the Authority of the Church of God which tacitely approved the same and finally confirmed and ratified by Christian Princes throughout their Empires And as the day so rest from Labours and restraint from Business upon that day received its greatest strength from the supream Magistrate as long as he reteined that Power which to him belonged as after from the Canons and decrees of Councils the Decretals of Popes and Orders of particular Prelates when the sole managing of Ecclesiastical affairs was committed to them I hope it was not so with the former Sabbath which neither took original from custom that people being not so forward to give God a day nor required any countenance or authority from the Kings of Israel to confirm and ratifie it The Lord had spoken the word that he would have one day in seven precisely the seventh day from the Worlds Creation to be a day of rest unto all his people which said there was no more to do but gladly to submit and obey his pleasure nec quicquam reliquum erat praeter obsequii gloriam in the greatest Prince And this done all at once not by degrees by little and little as he could see the people affected to it or as he found it fittest for them like a probation Law made to continue till the next Session and then on further liking to hold good for ever but by a plain and peremptory Order that it should be so without further trial But thus it was not done in our present Business The Lords day had no such command that it should be sanctified but was left plainly to Gods people to pitch on this or any other for the publick use And being taken up amongst them and made a day of meeting in the Congregation for religious Exercises yet for 300 years there was neither Law to bind them to it nor any rest from labour or from worldly businesses required upon it And when it seemed good unto Christian Princes the nursing Fathers of Gods Church to lay restraints upon their people yet at the first they were not general but only thus that certain men in cetrain places should lay aside their ordinary and daily works to attend Gods service in the Church those whose employments were most toilsome and most repugnant to the true nature of a Sabbath being allowed to follow and pursue their labours because most necessary to the Common-wealth And in following times when as the Prince and Prelate in their several places indeavoured to restrain them from that also which formerly they had permitted and interdicted almost all kind of bodily labour upon that day it was not brought about without much strugling and on opposition of the People more than a thousand years being past after Christs Ascension before the Lords day had attained that state in which now it standeth as will appear at full in the following story And being brought unto that state wherein now it stands it doth not stand so firmly and on such sure grounds but that those powers which raised it up may take it lower if they please yea take it quite away as unto the time and settle it on any other day as to them seems best which is the doctrine of some School-men and divers Protestant Writers of great name and credit in the world A power which no man will presume to say was ever challenged by the Jews over the Sabbath Besides all things are plainly contrary in these two days as to the purpose and intent of the Institution For in the Sabbath that which was principally aimed at was rest from labour that neither they nor any that belonged unto them should do any manner of work upon that day but sit still and rest themselves Their meditating on Gods Word or on his goodness manifested in the worlds Creation was to that an accessory and as for reading of
done afterwards in pursuit hereof consisted specially in beating down the opposition of the common people who were not easily induced to lay by their business next in a descant as it were on the former plain-song the adding of particular restrictions as occasion was which were before conteined though not plainly specified both in the Edicts of the former Emperours and Constitutions of the Churches before remembred Yet all this while we find not any one who did observe it as Sabbath or which taught others so to do not any who affirmed that any manner of work was unlawful on it further than as it was prohibited by the Prince or Prelate that so the people might assemble with their greater comfort not any one who preached or published that any pastime sport or recreation of an honest name such as were lawful on the other days were not fit for this And thereupon we may resolve as well of lawful business as of lawful pleasures that such as have not been forbidden by supream Authority whether in Proclamà tions of the Prince or Constitutions of the Church or Acts of Parliament or any such like Declaration of those higher Powers to which the Lord hath made us subject are to be counted lawful still It matters not in case we find it not recorded in particular terms that we may lawfully apply our selves to some kind of business or recreate our selves in every kind of honest pleasure at those particular hours and times which are left at large and have not been designed to Gods publick service All that we are to look for is to see how far we are restrained from labour or from recreations on the Holy days and what Authority it is that hath so restrained us that we may come to know our duty and conform unto it The Canons of particular Churches have no power to do it further than they have been admitted into the Church wherein we live for then being made a part of her Canon also they have power to bind us to observance As little power there is to be allowed unto the Declarations and Edicts of particular Princes but in their own dominions only Kings are Gods Deputies on the Earth but in those places only where the Lord hath set them their power no greater than their Empire and though they may command in their own Estates yet is it extra sphaeram activitatis to prescribe Laws to Nations not subject to them A King of France can make no Law to bind us in England Much less must we ascribe unto the dictates and directions of particular men which being themselves subject unto publick Order are to be hearkned to no further than by their life and doctrine they do preach obedience unto the publick Ordinances under which they live For were it otherwise every private man of name and credit would play the Tyrant with the liberty of his Christian Brethren and nothing should be lawful but what he allowed of especially if the pretence be fair and specious such as the keeping of a Sabbath to the Lord our God the holding of an holy convocation to the King of Heaven Example we had of it lately in the Gothes of Spain and that strange bondage into which some pragmatick and popular man had brought the French had not the Council held at Orleans gave a check unto it And with examples of this kind must we begin the story of the following Ages CHAP. V. That in the next six hundred years from Pope Gregory forwards the Lords day was not reckoned of as of a Sabbath 1. Pope Gregories care to set the Lords day free from Jewish rigours at that time obtruded on the Church 2. Strange fancies taken up by some about the Lords day in these darker Ages 3. Scriptures and Miracles in these times found out to justifie the keeping of the Lords day holy 4. That in the judgment of the most learned in these six Ages the Lords day hath no other ground than the Authority of the Church 5. With how much difficulty the people of these times were barred from following their Husbandry and Law-days on the Lords day 6. Husbandry not restrained on the Lords day in the Eastern parts until the time of Leo Philosophus 7. Markets and Handierafts restrained with no less opposition than the Plough and Pleading 8. Several casus reservati in the Laws themselves wherein men were permitted to attend those businesses on the Lords day which the laws restrained 9. Of divers great and publick actions done in these Ages on the Lords day 10. Dancing and other sports no otherwise prohibited on the Lords day than as they were an hindrance to Gods publick Service 11. The other Holy days as much esteemed of and observed as the Lords day was 12. The publick hallowing of the Lords day and the other Holy days in these present Ages 13. No Sabbath all these Ages heard of either on Saturday or Sunday and how it stood with Saturday in the Eastern Churches WE are now come to the declining Ages of the Church after the first 600 years were fully ended and in the entrance on the seventh some men had gone about to possess the people of Rome with two dangerous fancies one that it was not lawful to do any manner of work upon the Saturday or the old Sabbath ita ut die Sabbati aliquid operari prohiberent the other ut dominicorum die nullus debeat larari that no man ought to bathe himself on the Lords day or their new Sabbath With such a race of Christned Jews or Judaizing Christians was the Church then troubled Against these dangerous Doctrines did Pope Gregory write his Letter to the Roman Citizens stiling the first no other than the Preachers of Antichrist Epl. 3. l. 11. one of whose properties it shall be that he will have the Sabbath and the Lords day both so kept as that no manner of work shall be done on either qui veniens diem Sabbatum atque dominicum ab omni faciet opere custodire as the Father hath it Where note that to compell or teach the people that they must do no manner of work on the Lords day is a mark of Antichrist And why should Antichrist keep both days in so strict a manner Because saith he he will persuade the people that he shall die and rise again therefore he means to have the Lords day in especial honour and he will keep the Sabbath too that so he may the better allure the Jews to adhere unto him Against the other he thus reasoneth Et si quidem pro luxuria voluptate quis lavari appetit hoc fieri nec reliquo quolibet die concedimus c. If any man desires to bathe himself only out of a luxurious and voluptuous purpose observe this well this we conceive not to be lawful upon any day but if he do it only for the necessary refreshing of his body then neither is it fit it should be forbidden upon the
as Sundays whereby we see the Church had no less care of one than of the other And so indeed it had not in this alone but in all things else the Holy days as we now distinguish them being in most points equal to the Sunday and in some superiour Leo the Emperiour by his Edict shut up the Theater and the Cirque or shew-place on the Lords day The like is willed expresly in the sixth general Council holden at Constantinople Can. 66. Anno 692. for the whole Easter week Nequaquam ergo his diebus equorum cursus vel aliquod publicum fiat spectacum so the Canon hath it The Emperour Charles restrained the Husbandman and the Tradesman from following their usual work on the Lords day The Council of Melun doth the same for the said Easter week and in more particulars it being ordered by that Synod that men forbear Can. 77. during the time above remembred ab omni opere rurali fabrili carpentario gynaecaeo caementario pictorio venatorio forensi mercatorio audientiali ac sacramentis exigendis from Husbandry the craft of Smiths and Carpenters from Needle-work Cementing Painting Hunting Pleadings Merchandize casting of Accounts and from taking Oaths That Benedictines had but three mess of Pottage upon other days die vero dominico in praecipuis festivitatibus but on the Lords day and the principal Festivals a fourth was added as saith Theodomare the Abbot in an Epistle to Charles the Great Law-suits and Courts of Judgment were to be laid aside and quite shut up on the Lords day as many Emperours and Councils had determined severally The Council held at Friburg Anno 895. did resolve the samne of Holy days or Saints days and the time of Lent Nullusomnino secularis diebus dominicis vel Sanctorum in Festis Conc. Fribâ—riens Can. 26. seu Quadragesimae aut jejuniorum placitum habere sed nec populum illo praesumat coercere as the Canon goeth The very same with that of the Council of Erford Anno 932. cap. 2. But what need private and particular Synods be produced as witnesses herein when we have Emperours Popes and Patriarchs that affirm the same Ap. Balsam tit 7. cap. 1. To take them in the order in which they lived Photius the Patriarch of Constantinople Anno 858. thus reckoneth up the Festivals of especial note viz. Seven days before Easter and seven days after Christmas Epiphanie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Feasts of the Apostles and the Lords day And then he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that on those days they neither suffer publick shews nor Courts of Justice Emanuel Comnenus next Ap. Balsam Emperour of Constantinople Anno 1174. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We do ordain saith he that these days following be exempt from labour viz. the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Holy-rood day and so he reckoneth all the rest in those parts observed together with all the Sundays in the year and that in them there be not any access to the seats of judgment Lib. 2 tit 〈◊〉 feriis cap. 5. The like Pope Gregory the ninth Anno 1228. determineth in the Decretal where numbring up the Holy-days he concludes at last that neither any process hold nor sentence be in force pronounced on any of those days though both parts mutually should consent upon it Consentientibus etiam partibus nec processus habitus teneat nec sententia quam contingit diebus hujusmodi promulgari So the Law resolves it Now lest the feast of Whitsontide might not have some respect as well as Easter it was determined in the Council held at Engelheim Anno 948. that Munday Tuesday Wednesday in the Whitsun-week Cap. 6. non minus quam dies dominicus solenniter honorentur should no less solemnly be observed than the Lords day was So when that Otho Bishop of Bamberg had planted the faith of Christ in Pomerania and was to give account thereof to the Pope then being Urspergens Chronic. he certifieth him by his Letters Anno 1124. that having Christned them and built them Churches he left them three injunctions for their Christian carriage First that they eat no flesh on Fridays Secondly that they rest the Lords day ab omni opere malo from every evil work repairing to the Church for religious duties And thirdly Sanctorum solennitates cum vigiliis omni diligentia observent that they keep carefully the Saints days with the Eves attendant So that in all these outward matters we find fair equality save that in one respect the principal Festivals had preheminence above the Sunday For whereas Fishermen were permitted by the Decretal of Pope Alexander the third as before was said diebus dominicis aliis festis on the Lords day and other Holy-days to fish for Herring in some cases there was a special exception of the greater Festivals praeterquam in majoribus anni solennitatibus as the other was But not to deal in generals only Isidore Arch-bishop of Sevil in the beginning of the seventh Century making a Catalogue of the principal Festivals begins his list with Easter and ends it with the Lords day as before we noted in the fifth Section of this Chapter Now lest it should be thought that in sacred matters and points of substance the other Holy-days wee not as much regarded as the Lords day was The Council held at Mentz Anno 813. did appoint it thus that it the Bishop were infirm or not at home Non desit tamen diebus dominicis festivitatibus qui verbum Dei praedicet juxta quod populus intelligat yet there should still be some to preach Gods Word unto the People according unto their capacities both on the Lords day and the other Festivals Indeed why should not both be observed alike the Saints days being dedicated unto God as the Lords day is and standing both of them on the same authority on the authority of the Church for the particular Institution on the authority of Gods Law for the general Warrant It was commanded by the Lord and written in the heart of man by the pen of nature that certain times should be appointed for Gods publick worship the choicing of the times was left to the Churches power and she designed the Saints days as she did the Lords both his and both allotted to his service only This made Saint Bernard ground them all the Lords day and the other Holy-days on the fourth Commandment the third in the Account of the Church of Rome Serm. 3. Super Salve reg Spirituale obsequium Deo praebetur in observantia sanctarum solennitatum unde tertium praeceptum contexitur Observa diem Sabbati i. e. in sacris feriis te exerce So S. Bernard in his third Sermon Super salve Regina The Lords days and the Holy-days or Saints days being of so near a kin we must next see what care was taken by the Church in these present ages for hallowing them unto the Lord. The
times were certainly devout and therefore the less question to be made but that the Holy-days were employed as they ought to be in hearing of the Word of God receiving of the Sacraments and pouring forth their prayers unto him The sixth general Council holden at Constantinople appointed that those to whom the care of the Church was trusted should on all days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 especially on the Lords day instruct the Clergy and the People out of the holy Scripture in the ways of Godliness I say the Clergy and the People for in these times the Revenue of the Church being great and the offerings liberal there were besides the Parish-Priest who had Cure of souls many assisting Ministers of inferiour Orders which lived upon Gods holy Altar Somewhat to this purpose of Preaching every Sunday yea and Saints days too in the Congregation we have seen before established in the Council at Mentz Anno 813. So for receiving of the Sacrament whereas some would that it should be administred every day singulis in anno diebus as Bertram hath it lib de corp sangu Christi Rabanus Maurus who lived 824. leaves it as a thing indifferent advising all men notwithstanding in case there be no lawful let to communicate every Lords day De Sermon prâ—priâ—tat 〈◊〉 4.10 Quotidie Eucharistiae communionem percipere nec vitupero nec laudo omnibus tamen dominicis diebus communicandum hortor si tamen mens in affectu peccandi non sit as his words there are And whereas this good custom had been long neglected Can. 21. it was appointed that the Sacrament should be administred every Lords day by the Council at Aken Anno 836. Ne forte qui longe est à sacramentis quibus est redemptus c. lest saith the Council they which keep so much distance from the Sacraments of their redemption be kept as much at distance from the fruition of their Salvation As for the Holy-days or Saints days there needed no such Canon to enjoyn on them the celebration of the Sacrament which was annexed to them of course So likewise for the publick prayers besides what scatteringly hath been said in former places Câ—â—â— Friburienâ— Can. 26. the Council held at Friburg Anno 895. hath determined thus Diebus dominicis sanctorum festis vigiliis orationibus insistendum est ad missas cuilibet Christiano cum oblationibus currendum That on the Lords day and the Festivals of the Saints every Christian was to be intent upon his devotions to watch and pray and go to Mass and there make his offering It 's true the Service of the Church being in the Latine and in these times that Language being in some Provinces quite worn out and in some others grown into a different dialect from what it was that part of Gods worship which was publick prayer served not so much to comfort and to edification as it should have done As for the outward adjuncts of Gods publick service on the Churches part the principalwas that of Musick which in these Ages grew to a perfect height We shewed before that vocal Musick in the Church is no less ancient than the Liturgy of the Church it self which as it was begun in Ignatius time after the manner of plain-song or a melodious kind of pronunciation as before was said so in S. Austins time it became so excellent that it drew many to the Church and consequently many to the saith Now to that vocal Musick which was then in use and of which formerly we spake it pleased the Church in the beginning of these Ages to add Instrumental the Organ being added to the Voice by Pope Vitalian Anno 653. above 1000 years ago and long before the aberration of the Church from its pristine piety And certainly it was not done without good advice there being nothing of that kind more powerful than melody both Vocaland Instrumental for raising of mens hearts and sweetning their affections towards God Not any thing wherein the Militant Church here on Earth hath more resemblance to the Church in Heaven triumphant than in that sacred and harmonious way of singing praise and Allelujahs to the Lord our God which is and hath of long been used in the Church of Christ To bring this Chapter to an end in all that hath been said touching the keeping of the Lords day we find not any thing like a Sabbath either in the practice of the Church or writings of particular men however these last Ages grew to such an height in restraint of labours on this day that they might seem to have a mind to revive that part of the fourth Commandment Thou shalt do no manner of work upon it For where they tell us of this day as before was said that it was taken up by custom on the Authority of the Church as most on Apostolical tradition this makes it plain that they intended no such matter as a Sabbath day though that the Congregation might assemble in the greater numbers and men might joyn together in all Christian duties with the greater force it pleased the Church and principal powers thereof to restrain men from cororal labours and bind them to repair to the House of God Or if they did intend the Lords day for a Sabbath day it 's plain they must have made more Sabbaths than one day in seven those Holy-days which universally were observed in the Christian Church being no othersise to be kept than the Lords day was and those increasing in these Ages to so great a number that they became a burden to the common people Nor is it likely that being once free from the bondage of the Jewish Sabbath they would submit themselves unto another of their own devising and do therewith as the Idolaters of old with their woodden Gods first make them and then presently fall down and worship them Rather they took a course to restrain the Jews from sanctifhing their Sabbah and other legal Festivals as before they used Can. 10. Statutum est de Judaeis in the 12. Council of Tolledo Anno 681 Ne Sabbata caeterasque festivitates ritus sui celebrare praesumant and not so only Sed ut diebus dominicis ab opere cessent but that they should refrain from labour on the Lords day also of any Sabbath to be kept in the Christian Church some few might dream perhaps such filthy dreamers as Saint Jude speaks of but they did only dream thereof they few no such matter They which had better Visions could perceive no Subbath but in this life a Sabbath or a rest from sin and in the life to come a Sabbath or a rest from misery Plainly Rupertus so conceived it as great a Clerk as any in the times wherein he lived which was in the beginning of the twelfth Century Nam sicut signum circumcisionis incarnationem c. For as saith he the sign of Circumcisian foreshewed the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour
the offering of the Paschal Lamb his Death and Passion Sic Sabbatismus ille requiem annunciabat quae post hanc vitam posita â—â—t fanctis â—lectis so did the Sabbath signifie that eternal rest which after this life is provided for the Saints and elect of God And more than this Spiritualis homo non uno die hebdomadis sed omni tempore Sabbatizare satagit the true spiritual man keeps not his Subbath once a week but at all times whatever every hour and minute What then would he have no day set apart for Gods publick service no but not the Sabbath Because saith he we are not to rejoyce in this world that perisheth but in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection therefore we ought not rest the seventh day in sloth and idleness But we dispose our selves to prayers and hearing of the Word of God upon the first day of the week on the which Christ rose cum summa cura providentes ut tam illo quam caeteris diebus feriati semper simus à servili opere peccati Provided always that upon that and all days else we keep our selves free from the servile Acts of sin This was the Sabbath which they principally looked for in this present life never applying of that name to the Lords day in any of those monuments of Learning they have left behind them The first who ever used it to denote the Lords day the first that I have met with in all this search is one Petrus Alfonsus he lived about the times that Rupertus did who calls the Lords day by the name of the Christian Sabbath Dies domnica dies viz. resurrectionis quae suae salvationis causa extitit Christianorum sabbatum est But this no otherwise to be construed than by Analogy and resemblance no otherwise than the Feast of Easter is called the Christian Passeover As for the Saturday the old Sabbath day though it continued not a Sabbath yet it was still held in an high esteem in the Eastern Churches counted a festival day or at least no fast and honoured with the meetings of the Congregation In reference to the first we find how it was charged on the Church of Rome by the sixth Council in Constantinople Anno 692. that in the holy time of Lent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they used to fast the Saturday which was directly contrary to the Canons of the Apostles as they there alledge This also was objected by Photius Patriarch of Constantinople against Pope Nicolas of Rome Anno 867. and after that by Michael of Constantinople against Leo the ninth Anno 1053. which plainly shews that in the Eastern Churches they observed it otherwise And in relation to the other Curopalat we find that whereas in the principal Church of Constantinople the holy Sacrament was celebrated only on the greater feasts as also on the Saturdays and the Sundays Sabbatis dominicis and not on other days as at Rome it was Constantine surnamed Mononiachus Anno 1054 enriched it with revenue and bestowed much fair plate upon it that so they might be able every day to perform that office Which proves sufficiently that Saturday was always one in all publick duties and that it kept even pace with Sunday But it was otherwise of old in the Church of Rome where they did laborare jejunare as Humbertus saith in his defence of Leo the ninth against Nicetas And this with little opposition or interruption save that which had been made in the City of Rome in the beginning of the seventh Century and was soon crushed by Gregory then Bishop there as before we noted And howsoever Vrban of that name the second Hect. Boet. hist l. 22. did consecrate it to the weekly service of the blessEd Virgin and instituted in the Council held at Clermont Anno 1095. that our Ladies office Officium B. Mariae should be said upon it Eandemque Sabbato quoque die praecipua devotione populum Christianum colere debere and that upon that day all Christian folk should worship her with their best devotions yet it continued still as before it was a day of fasting and of working So that in all this time in 1200 years we have found no Sabbath nor do we think to meet with any in the times that follow either amongst the Schoolmen or amongst the Protestants which next shall come upon the Stage CHAP. VI. What is the judgment of the Schoolmen and of the Protestants and what the practice of those Churches in this Lords day business 1. That in the judgment of the Schoolmen the keeping of one day in seven is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment 2. As also that the Lords day is not founded on Divine Authority but the Authority of the Church 3. A Catalogue of the Holy-days drawn up in the Council of Lyons and the new Doctrine of the Schools touching the native sanctity of the Holy-days 4. In what estate the Lords day stood in matter of restraint from labour at the reformation 5. The Reformators find great fault both with the said new doctrine and restraints from labour 6. That in the judgment of the Protestant Divines the keeping of one day in seven is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment 7. As that the Lords day hath no other ground on which to stand than the Authority of the Church 8. And that the Church hath power to change the day and to transfer it to some other 9. What is the practice of all Churches the Roman Lutheran and Calvinian chiefly in matter of Devotion rest from labour and sufferance of lawful pleasures 10. Dancing cried down by Calvin and the French Churches not in relation to the Lords day but the sport it self 11. In what estate the Lords day stands in the Eastern Churches and that the Saturday is no less esteemed of by the Ethiopians than the said Lords day WE are now come unto an Age wherein the Learning of the world began to make a different shew from what it did to such a period of time in which was made the greatest alteration in the whole fabrick of the Church that ever any time could speak of The Schoolmen who sprung up in the beginning of the thirteenth Age contracted Learning which before was diffused and scattered into fine subtilties and distinctions the Protestants in the beginning of the sixteenth endeavouring to destroy those buildings which with such diligence and curiosity had been erected by the Schoolmen though they consented well enough in the present business so far as it concern'd the Institution either of the Lords day or the Sabbath Of these and what they taught and did in reference to the point in hand we are now to speak taking along with us such passages of especial note as hapned in the Christian world by which we may learn any thing that concerns our business And first beginning with the Schoolmen they tell us generally of the Sabbath that
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 general tendry of the Roman Schools that which is publickly avowed and made good amongst them And howsoever Petrus de Anchorana and Nicholas Abbat of Patermo two learned Canonists as also Angelus de Clavasio and Silvester de Prierats two as learned Casuists seem to defend the institution of the Lords day to have its ground and warrant on divine Authority yet did the general current of the Schools and of the Canonists also run the other way And in that current still it holds the Jesuits and most learned men in the Church of Rome following the general and received opinion of the Schoolmen whereof see Bellarm. de cultu Sanct. l. 3. c. 11. Estius in 3. Sent. dist 37. Sect. 13. but especially Agsorius in his Institut Moral part second cap. 2. who gives us an whole Catalogue or them which hold the Lords day to be founded only on the authority of the Church Touching the other power the power of Dispensation there is not any thing more certain than that the Church both may and doth dispense with such as have therein offended against her Canons The Canons in themselves do profess as much there being many casus reservati as before we said expressed particularly in those Laws and constitutions which have been made about the keeping of this day and the other Festivals wherein a dispensation lieth if we disobey them Many of these were specified in the former Ages and some occur in these whereof now we write It pleased Pope Gregory the ninth Decretal l. 2. tit de feriis cap. 5. Anno 1228. to inhibit all contentious Suits on the Lords day and the other Festivals and to inhibit them so far that judgment given on any of them should be counted void Etiam consentientibus partibus although both parties were consenting Yet was it with this clause or reservation nisi vel necessitas urgeat vel pietas suadeat unless necessity inforced or piety persuaded that it should be done So in a Synod holden in Valladolit apud vallem Oleti in the parts of Spain Concil Sabiness deâ—feriis Anno 1322. a general restraint was ratified that had been formerly in force quod nullus in diebus dominicis festivis agros colere audeat aut manualia artificia exercere praesitmat that none should henceforth follow Husbandry or exercise himself in mechanick Trades upon the Lords day or the other Holy days Yet was it with the same Proviso nisi urgente necessitate vel evidentis pietatis causa unless upon necessity or apparent piety or charity in each of which he might have licence from the Priest his own Parish-Priest to attend his business Where still observe that the restraint was no less peremptory on the other Holy days than on the Lords day These Holy days as they were named particularly in Pope Gregories Decretal so was a perfect list made of them in the Synod of Lyons â—e consecrat distinct 3. c. 1. Anno 1244. which being celebrated with a great concourse of people from all parts of Christendom the Canons and decrees thereof began forthwith to find a general admittance The Holy days allowed of there were these that follow viz. the feast of Christs nativity St. Stephen St John the Evangelist the Innocents St. Silvâ—ster the Circumcision of our Lord the Epiphany Easter together with the week precedent and the week succeeding the three days in Rogation week the day of Christs Ascension Whitsunday with the two days after St. John the Baptist the feasts of all the twelve Apostles all the festivities of our Lady St. Lawrence all the Lords days in the year St. Michael the Archangel All Saints St. Martins the Wakes or dedication of particular Churches together with the Feasts of such topical or local Saints which some particular people had been pleased to honour with a day particular amongst themselves On these and every one of them the people were restrained as before was said from many several kinds of work on pain of Ecclesiastical censures to be laid on them which did offend unless on some emergent causes either of charity or necessity they were dispensed with for so doing In other of the Festivals which had not yet attained to so great an height the Council thought not fit perhaps by reason of their numbers that men should be restrained from labour as neither that they should be incouraged to it but left them to themselves to bestow those times as might stand best with their affairs and the Common wealth For so the Synod did determine Reliquis festivitatibus quae per annum sunt non esse plebem cogendam ad feriandum sed nec probibendam And in this state things stood a long time together there being none that proferd opposition in reference to these restraints from labour on the greater Festivals though some there were that thought the Festivals too many on which those burden of restraints had unadvisedly been imposed on the common people Nicholas de Clemangis complained much as of some other abuses in the Church so of the multitude of Holy days Ap. Hospin cap. â— de fest 〈◊〉 which had of late times been brought into it And Pet. de Aliaco Cardinal of Cambray in a Discourse by him exhibited to the Council of Constance made publick suit unto the Fathers there assembled that there might a stop be put in that kind hereafter as also that excepting Sundays and the greater Festivals liceret operari post auditum officium it might be lawful for the people after the end of Divine Service to attend their businesses the poor especially having little time enough on the working days ad vitae necessaria procuranda to get their livings But these were only the expressions of well wishing men The Popes were otherwise resolved and did not only keep the Holy days which they found established in the same state in which they found them but added others daily as they saw occasion At last it came unto that pass by reason of that rigorous and exact kind of rest which by the Canon Law had been fastned on them that both the Lords day and the other Festivals were accounted Holy not in relation to the use made of them or to the holy actions done on them in the honour of God but in and of themselves considered they were avowed to be vere aliis sanctiores Bell arm de cultu S. l. 3. c. 10. truly and properly invested with a greater sanctity than the other days Yea so far did they go at last that it is publickly maintained in the Schools of Rome non sublatam esse sed mutatam tantum in novo Testamento significationem discretionem dierum that the difference of days and times and the mysterious significations of the same which had before been used in the Jewish Church was not abolished but only changed in the Church of Christ Aquinas did first lead this Dance in fitting every legal Festival with some that were observed
Hom. 131. Gualter more generally that the Christians first assembled on the Sabbath day as being then most famous and so most in use but when the Churches were augmented preximus à sabbato dies rebus sacris destinatus the next day after the Sabbath was designed to those holy uses If not before then certainly not so commanded by our Saviour Christ and if designed only then not enjoyned by the Apostles Apoc. 1.10 Yea Beza though herein he differ from his Master Calvin and makes the Lords day meetings to be Apostolicae verae divinae traditionis to be indeed of Apostolical and divine Tradition yet being a Tradition only although Apostolical it is no Commandment And more than that he tells us in another place that from St. Pauls preaching at Troas and from the Text. In Act. 20. 1 Corinth 16.2 non inepte colligi it may be gathered not unfitly that then the Christians were accustomed to meet that day the ceremony of the Jewish Sabbath beginning by degrees to vanish But sure the custom of the people makes no divine Traditions and such conclusions as not unfitly may be gathered from the Text are not Text it self Others there be who attribute the changing of the day to the Apostles not to their precept but their practice So Mercer Apostoli in Dominicum converterunt In Gen. the Apostles changed the Sabbath to the Lords day in Gen. 2. Paraeus attributes the same Apostolicae Ecclesiae unto the Apostolical Church or Church in the Apostles time quomodo autem facta sit haec mutatio in sacris liberis expressum non habemus but how by what authority such a change was made is not delivered in the Scripture In Thesib p. 733. And John Cuchlinus though he call it consuetudinem Apostolicam an Apostolical custom yet he is peremptory that the Apostles gave no such Commandment Apostolos praeceptum reliquisse constanter negamus So Simler calls it only consuetudinem tempore Apostolorum receptam a custom taken up in the Apostles time And so Hospinian De sestis Chr. p. 24. although saith he it be apparent that the Lords day was celebrated in the place of the Jewish Sabbath even in the times of the Apostles non invenitur tamen vel Apostolos vel alios lege aliqua praecepto observationem ejus instituisse yet find we not that either they or any other did institute the keeping of the same by any law or precept but left it free In 4. praecept Thus Zanchius nullibi legimus Apostolos c. We do not read saith he that the Apostles commanded any to observe this day We only read what they and others did upon it liberum ergo reliquerunt which is an argument that they left it to the Churches power To those add Vrsin in his Exposition of the fourth Commandment liberum Ecclesiae reliquit alios dies eligere In Catech. Palat. and that the Church made choice of this in honour of our Saviours Resurrection Aretius in his Common-places Christiani in Dominicum transtulerunt Gomarus and Ryvet in the Tracts before remembred Both which have also there determined that in the chusing of this day the Church did exercise as well her Wisdom as her Freedom her freedom being not obliged unto any day by the Law of God her wisdom ne majori mutatione Judaeos offenderet that by so small an alteration she might the less offend the Jews who were then considerable As for the Lutheran Divines it is affirmed by Doctor bound that for the most part they ascribe too much unto the liberty of the Church in appointing days for the assembly of the people which is plain confession But for particulars Brentius as Doctor Prideaux tells us calls it civilem institutionem a civil institution and no commandment of the Gospel which is no more indeed than what is elsewhere said by Calvin when he accounts no otherwise thereof than ut remedium retinendo ordini necessarium as a fit way to retain order in the Church And sure I am Chemnitius tells us that the Apostles did not impose the keeping of this day as necessary upon the consciences of Gods people by any Law or Precept whatsoever sed libera fuit observatio ordinis gratia but that for orders sake it had been voluntarily used amongst them of their own accord Thus have we proved that by the Doctrine of the Protestants of what side soever and those of greatest credit in the several Churches eighteen by name and all the Lutherans in general of the same opinion that the Lords day is of no other institution than the authority of the Church Which proved the last of the three Theses that still the Church hath power to change the day and to transfer it to some other will follow of it self on the former grounds the Protestant Doctors before remembred in saying that the Church did institute the Lords day as we see they do confessing tacitely that still the Church hath power to change it Nor do they tacitely confess it as if they were affraid to speak it out but some of them in plain terms affirm it as a certain Truth Zuinglius the first Reformer of the Switzers hath resolved it so in his Discourse against one Valentine Gentilis a new Arian Heretick Audi mi Valentine quibus modis rationibus sabbatum ceremoniale reddatur Tom. 1. p. 254. ◠Harken now Valentine by what ways and means the Sabbath may be made a ceremony if either we observe that day which the Jews once did or think the Lords day so affixed unto any time ut nefas sit illum in aliud tempus transferre that we conceive it an impiety it should be changed unto another on which as well as upon that we may not rest from labour and harken to the Word of God if perhaps such necessity should be this would indeed make it become a ceremony Nothing can be more plain than this Yet Calvin is as plain when he professeth that he regardeth not so much the Number of seven ut ejus servituti Ecclesias astringeret as to enthral the Church unto it Sure I am Doctor Prideaux reckoneth him as one of them who teach us that the Church hath power to change the day and to transfer it to some other and that John Barclaie makes report In orat de Sab. how once he had a Consultation de transferenda Dominica in feriam quintam of altering the Lords day unto the Thursday Bucer affirms as much as touching the Authority and so doth Bullinger and Brentius Vrsine and Chemnitius as Doctor Prideaux hath observed Of Bullinger Bucer Brentius I have nought to say because the places are not cited but take it as I think I may upon his credit But for Chemnitius he saith often that it is libera observatio a voluntary observation that it is an especial part of our Christian liberty not to be tied to Days and Times in matters which
themselves to prayer and Gods publick service Particularly Fitz-Herbert tells us that no plea shall be holden Quindena Paschae Nat. Brevium fol. 17. 1 Eli◠p. 168. because it is always on the sunday but it shall be holden crastino quindenae paschae on the morrow after So Justice Dyer hath resolved that if a Writ of scire facias out of the Common-pleas bear Test on a Sunday it is an errour because that day is not dies juridicus in Banco And so it is agreed amongst them that on a Fine levied with Proclamations according to the Statute of King Henry VII if any of the Proclamations be made on the Lords day all of them are to be accounted erroneous Acts. But to return unto the Canon where before we left however that Archbishop Langton formerly and Islip at the present time had made these several restraints from all servile labours yet they were far enough from entertaining any Jewish fancy The Canon last remembred that of Simon Islip doth express as much But more particularly and punctually we may find what was the judgment of these times in a full declaration of the same in a Synod at Lambeth what time John Peckham was Archbishop which was in Anno 1280. Lindw l. 1. tit de offic Archipresb It was thus determined Sciendum est quod obligatio ad feriandum in Sabbato legali expiravit omnino c. It is to be understood that all manner of obligation of resting on the legal Sabbath as was required in the Old Testament is utterly expired with the other ceremonies And it is now sufficient in the New Testament to attend Gods service upon the Lords days and the other Holy days ad hoc Ecclesiastica authoritate deputatis appointed by the Church to that end and purpose The manner of sanctifying all which days non est sumendus à superstitione Judaica sed à Canonicis institutis is not to be derived from any Jewish superstition but from the Canons of the Church This was exact and plain enough and this was constantly the doctrine of the Church of England Joannes de Burgo who lived about the end of K. Henry VI. doth almost word for word resolve it so in his Pupilla oculi part 10. c. 11. D. Yet find we not in these restraints that Marketting had been forbidden either on the Lords day or the other Holy days and indeed it was not that came in afterwards by degrees partly by Statutes of the Realm partly by Canons of the Church not till all Nations else had long laid them down For in the 28 of King Edward III. cap 14. it was accorded and established that shewing of Wools shall be made at the Stapie every day of the week except the Sunday and the solemn Feasts in the year This was the first restraint in this kind with us here in England and this gives no more priviledge to the Lords day than the solemn Festivals Antiq. Brit. in Stafford Nor was there more done in it for almost an hundred years not till the time of Henry VI. Anno 1444. what time Archbishop Stafford decreed throughout his Province ut nundina emporia in Ecclesiis aut Coemiteriis diebusque Dominicis atque Festis praeterquam tempore messis non teneantur that Fairs and Markets should no more be kept in Churches and Church-yards or on the Lords days or the other Holy-days except in time of Harvest only If in that time they might be suffered then certainly in themselves they were not unlawful on any other further than as prohibited by the higher powers Now that which the Archbishop had decreed throughout his Province Tabians Chronicle Catworth Lord Mayor of London attempted to exceed within that City For in this year saith Fabian Anno 1444. an Act was made by Authority of the Common Council of London that upon the Sunday should no manner of thing within the franchise of the City be bought or sold neither Victual nor other thing nor no Artificer should bring his Ware unto any man to be worn or occupied that day as Taylers Garments and Cordwayners Shooes and so likewise all other occupations But then it followeth in the story the which Ordinance held but a while enough to shew by the success how ill it doth agree with a Lord Mayor to deal in things about the Sabbath Afterwards in the year 1451. which was the 28 of this Henries Reign it pleased the King in Parliament to ratifie what before was ordered by that Archbishop in this form that followeth 28. H. 6. c. 16. Considering the abominable injuries and effences done to Almigvty God and to his Saints always ayders and finguler affistants in our necessities by the necasion of Fairs and Marhets upon their high and principal Feasts as in the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord. in the day of Corpus Christi in the day of Whitsunday Trinity Sunday and other Sundays as also in the high Feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady the day of all Saints and on Good Friday accustomably and miserably holden and used in the Keaim of England c. our Soveraign Lord the King c. hath ordained that all manner of Fairs and Markets on the said principal Feasts and Sundays and Good Friday shall clearly cease from all shewing of any Goods and Merchandises necessary Victual only ercept which yet was more than was allowed in the City-Act upon pain of forfeiture of all the goods aforesaid to the Lord of the franchise or liverty where such goods be or shall be she wed contrary to this Ordinance the four Sundays in Harvest except Which clause or reservation sheweth plainly that the things before prohibited were not esteemed unlawful in themselves as also that this Law was made in confirmation of the former order of the Archbishop as before was said Now on this Law I find two resolutions made by my Lords the Judges First Justice Brian in the 12th of King Edward the fourth declared that no sale made upon a Sunday though in a Fair or Market-overt for Markets as it seemeth were not then quite laid down though by Law prohibited shall be a good sale to alter the property of the goods And Ploydon in the time of Queen Elizabeth was of opinion Daltons Justice cap. 27. that the Lord of any Fair or Market kept upon the Sunday contrary to the Statute may therefore be indicted for the King or Queen either at the Assizes or general Goal delivery or Quarter Sessions within that County If so in case such Lord may be Endicted for any Fair or Market kept upon the sunday as being contrary to the Statute then by the same reason may he be Endicted for any Fair or Market kept on any of the other Holy-days in that Statute mentioned Nor staid it here For in the 1465. which was the fourth year of King Edward IV. it pleased the King in Parliament to Enact as followeth Our Soveraign Lord the
to the judgment of the Protestants before remembred 2. The Lords day and the other Holy days confessed by all this Kingdom in the Court of Parliament to have no other ground than the authority of the Church 3. The meaning and occasion of that clause in the Common-Prayer book Lord have mercy upon us c. repeated at the end of the fourth Commandment 4. That by the Queens Injunctions and the first Parliament of her Keign the Lords day was not meant for a Sabbath day 5. The doctrine in the Homilies delivered about the Lords day and the Sabbath 6. The sum and substance of that Homily and that it makes not any thing for a Lords day Sabbath 7. The first original of the New Sabbath Speculations in this Church of England by whom and for what cause invented 8. Strange and most monstrous Paradoxes preached on occasion of the former doctrines and of the other effects thereof 9. What care was taken of the Lords day in King James his Reign the spreading of the doctrines and of the Articles of Ireland 10. The Jewish Sabbath set on foot and of King James his declaration about lawful sports on the Lords day 11. What Tracts were writ and published in that Princes time in opposition to the doctrines before remembred 12. In what estate the Lords day and the other Holy days have stood in Scotland since the reformation of Religion in that Kingdom 13. Statutes about the Lords day made by our present Sovereign and the misconstruing of the same His Majesty reviveth and enlargeth the Declaration of King James 14. An exhortation to obedience unto his Majesties most Christian purpose concludes this History THUS are we safely come to these present times the times of Reformation wherein whatever had been taught or done in the former days was publickly brought unto the test and if not well approved of layed aside either as unprofitable or plainly hurtful So dealt the Reformators of the church of England as with other things with that which we have now in hand the Lords day and the other Holy days keeping the days as many of them as were thought convenient for the advancement of true godliness and increase of piety but paring off those superstitious conceits and matters of opinion which had been entertained about them But first before we come to this we will by way of preparation lay down the judgments of some men in the present point men of good quality in their times and such as were content to be made a sacrifice in the common Cause Of these I shall take notice of three particularly according to the several times in the which they lived And first we will begin with Master Frith who suffered in the year 1533. who in his declaration of Baptism thus declares himself Our forefathers saith he Page 96. which were in the beginning of the Church did abrogate the Sabbath to the intent that men might have an ensample of Christian liberty c. Howbeith because it was necessary that a day should be reserved in which the people should come together to hear the Word of God they ordained instead of the Sabbath which was Saturday the next day following which is Sunday And although they might have kept the Saturday with the Jew as a thing indifferent yet they did much better Some three years after him Anno 1536. being the 28. of Henry the eighth suffered Master Tyndall who in his answer to Sir Thomas More hath resolved it thus As for the Sabbath we be Lords over the Sabbath Page 287. and may yet change it into Monday or into any other day as we see need or may make every tenth day Holy day only if we see cause why Neither was there any cause to change it from the Saturday but to put a difference between us and the Jews neither reed we any Holy day at all if the people might be taught without it Last of all bishop Hooper sometimes Bishop of Gloucester who suffered in Queen Maries Reign doth in a Treatise by him written on the Ten Commandments and printed in the year 1550. go the self-same way age 103. We may not think saith he that God gave any more holiness to the Sabbath than to the other days For if ye consider Friday Pag. 103. Saturday or Sunday inasmuch as they be days and the work of God the one is no more holy than the other but that day is always most holy in the which we most apply and give our selves unto holy works To that end did he sanctifie the Sabbath day not that we should give our selves to illness or such Ethnical pastime as is now used amongst Ethnical people but being free that day from the travels of this World we might consider the works and benefits of God with thanksgiving hear the Word of God honour him and fear him then to learn who and where be the poor of Christ that want our help Thus they and they amongst them have resolved on these four conclusions First that one day is no more holy than another the Sunday than the Saturday or the Friday further than they are set apart for holy Uses Secondly that the Lords day hath no institution from divine authority but was ordained by our fore-fathers in the beginning of the Church that so the people might have a Day to come together and hear Gods Word Thirdly that still the Church hath power to change the day from Sunday unto Monday or what day she will And lastly that one day in seven is not the Moral part of the fourth Commandment for Mr. Tyndal saith expresly that by the Church of God each tenth day only may be kept holy if we see cause why So that the marvel is the greater that any man should now affirm as some men have done that they are willing to lay down both their Lives and Livings in maintenance of those contrary Opinions which in these latter days have been taken up Now that which was affirmed by them in their particulars was not long afterwards made good by the general Body of this Church and State the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all the Commons met in Parliament Anno the fifth and sixth of King Edward the sixth 5 6 Edw. 6. cap. 3. where to the honour of Almighty God it was thus enacted For as much as men be not at all times so mindful to Iaud and praise God so ready to resort to hear Gods holy Word and to come to the holy Communion c. as their bounden duty doth require therefore to call men to remembrance of their duty and to help their infirmity it hath been wholsomly provided that there should be some certain times and days appointed wherein the Christians should cease from all kind of labour and apply themselves only and wholly unto the aforesaid holy works properly pertaining to true Keligion c. Which works as they may well be called Gods Service so the time
in the Publick Government sufficient to retard a work of greater consequence is unknown to none But long looked for comes at last as the saying is though why it should come out at all may be made a question And I shall also give the Reader some account of that but in so doing must make use of somewhat which was said elsewhere It was more than half against my will and rather through the indiscretion of others than any forwardness of my own that I was drawn to shew my self in these present Controversies But being unseasonably brought upon the Stage by Dr. Bernard impertinently enough by Mr. Baxter and with more than ordinary Petulancy by the Man of Scorn the occasion was laid hold on by some very able and discerning men for pressing me to search into the History of these disputes so far forth as the Church of England was concerned in them and to make publick what I sound upon that inquiry To which request I made such answer at the present as the consideration of my many unfitnesses for an employment of that nature might suggest unto me But coming to me from so many hands that it could not fairly be denied I was prevailed with in the end to apply my self to the undertaking as soon as I had dispatched such other businesses as lay then upon me In the mean time I thought I might comply sufficiently with all expectations by fashioning some short Animadversions on the principal passages relating to the Doctrin of the Church of England which had been purloyned for the most part out of Mr. Prinns Book of Anti-arminianism by a late Compiler By which name the old Criticks and Grammarians used to call those men who pilfering their materials out of other mens writings did use to lay them close together as their own to avoid discovery Compilo i. c. Surripio quia quae fures auferunt ea pressim colligunt quod est compilare And so the word is took by Horace is his Compilasse Serm. 1. verse ult as is observed on that verse by the Learned Scoliasts So that a Compilator and a Plagiary are but two terms of one signification And he that would behold a Plagacy in his proper colours may find him painted to the lise in the Appendix to Mr. Pierce his Vindication of the Learned Grotius to which for further satisfaction I refer the Reader That preamble having led the way and may other businesses being ever I prepared my self unto that search to which I was so earnestly moved and so affectionately intreated My helps were few and weak which might sufficiently have deterred me from the undertaking But a good cause will help to carry on it self and truth will find the way to shine though darkned for a time with the clouds of Errour as the Sun breaking from an Eclips doth appear more glorious though a while obscured Delitere videtur sol non delitet as in the like case the Father hath it The five disputed points which in these last times are reproached by the name of Arminianism had more or less exercised the Church in all times and ages especially after the breaking out of the Pelagian Heresies where all the Niceties thereof were more thoroughly canvassed Neither the piety and sobriety of the Primitive times nor the authority of the Popes nor the commanding spirit of Luther nor the more powerful name of Calvin have prevailed so far but that the Church and every broken fragment of it hath sound some subdivision about these Debates So that it can be no great wonder if the Church of England be divided also on the same occasion or that a Deviation should be made from her publick rules as well as in all other Churches and all former times Which way the general vote had passed in the elder ages hath been abundantly set forth by John Gerrard Vossius in his Historia Pelagiana But be descended not so low as these latter times conceiving he had done enough in shewing to which of the contending parties the general current of the Fathers did most encline And if Tertullians rule be good that those opinions have most truth which have most antiquity id verum est quod primum as his own words are the truth must run most clearly in that part of the Controversie which hath least in it of the Zuinglian or Calvinian Doctrins And so far I shall follow his method or example rather in the pursuit of that design which I have before me For though it be my principal purpose to search into the Doctrine of the Church of England yet I shall preface my discourse by laying down the Judgment of the rest of the Western Churches before I come to that of our first Reformers By means whereof it may be seen what guides they followed or rather with what parties they concurred in judgment since in those times the Church was generally so distracted about these disputes that with the whole the aggregate body of believers there could be no agreement hoped for no compliance possible In the pursuance of this work I have exemplified so much of the Debates and Artifices in the Council of Trent as concerns these points and may be parallel'd with the like proceedings in the Synod of Dort I have consulted also the Confessions the Synodals and other publick Monuments and Records of the several parties and so many of the best and most approved Authors of this Church of England as either were within my power or could be advised with at a further distance One whole discourse I have transcribed about Free-will not obvious to the met withal in Shops or Libraries The like I have done also with one whole Homily though the book be easie to be found by those that seek it knowing full well how unwilling most Readers are to take more pains in turning over several books and examining all quotations which are brought before them than of necessity they must Nor have I purposely concealed or subducted any thing considerable which may seem to make for the advantage of the opposite party And have therefore brought in a discourse of the Martyrologist in favour of the Calvinian Doctrine I have also given a just account of the first breaking out of the Predestinarians in Queen Maries time and of the stirs in Cambridge in Queen Elizabeths not pretermitting such particulars as may be thought to make for them in the course of this Narrative even to the Articles of Ireland and the harsh expression of King James against Arminius And therefore I may say in the words of Curtius Plura equidem transcribo quam credo nec enim affirmare ausuge sum quae dubito nec subducere sustineo quae accepi I have related many things which I cannot approve though I have not let them pass without some censure that so I may impose nothing on the Readers belief without good grounds nor defraud him of any thing conducible to his information I was not to be
in his Understanding Will Affections and all his other faculties that so he may be able to understand think will and bring to pass any thing that is good according to that of St. John 15.5 Without me you can do nothing IV. Of the manner of Conversion The Grace of God is the beginning promotion and accomplishment of every thing that is good in us insomuch that the Regenerate man can neither think well nor do any thing that is good or resist any sinful Temptations without this Grace preventing co-operating and assisting and consequently all good works which any man in his life can attain unto are to be attributed and ascribed to the Grace of God But as for the manner of the co-operation of this Grace it is not to be thought to be irresistable in regard that it is said of many in the holy Scripture that they did resist the Holy Ghost as in Acts 7. and in other places V. Of the uncertainty of Perseverance They who are grafted into Christ by a lively Faith and are throughly made partakers of his quickning Spirit have a sufficiency of strength by which the Holy Ghost contributing his Assistance to them they may not only right but obtain the Victory against the Devil Sin the World and all infirmities of the flesh Most true it is that Jesus Christ is present with them by his Spirit in all their Temptations that he reacheth out his hand unto them and shews himself ready to support them if for their parts they prepare themselves to the encounter and beseech his help and are not wanting to themselves in performing their unties so that they cannot be sedoced by the cunning or taken out of the hands of Christ by the power of Satan according to that of St. John No man taketh them out of my hand c. Cap. 10. But it is first to be well weighed and proved by the holy Scripture whether by their own negligence they may not forsake those Principles of saving Grace by which they are sustained in Christ embrace the present World again Apostatize from the saving Doctrince once delivered to them suffer a Shipwrack of their Conscience and fall away from the Grace of God before we can publickly teach these doctrines with any sufficient tranquility or assurance of mind It is reported that at the end of the Conference between the Protestants and Papists in the first Convocation of Queen Maries Reign the Protestants were thought to have had the better as being more dextrous in applying and in forcing some Texts of Scripture than the others were and that thereupon they were dismissed by Weston the Prolocutor with this short come off You said he have the Word and we have the Sword His meaning was That what the Papists wanted in the strength of Argument they would make good by other ways as afterwards indeed they did by Fire and Fagot The like is said to have been done by the Contra Remonstrants who finding themselves at this Conference to have had the worst and not to have thrived much better by their Pen-comments than in that of the Tongue betook themselves to other courses vexing and molesting their Opposites in their Classes or Consistories endeavouring to silence them from Preaching in their several Churches or otherwise to bring them unto publick Censure At which Weapon the Remonstrants being as much too weak as the others were at Argument and Disputation they betook themselves unto the Patronage of John Van Olden Burnevelt a man of great Power in the Council of Estate for the Vnited Belgick Provinces by whose means they obtained an Edict from the States of Holland and West-Friezland Anno 1613. requiring and enjoying a mutual Toleration of Opinions as well on the one side as the other An Edict highly magnified by the Learned Grotius in a Book intituled Pietas Ordinum Hollandiae c. Against which some Answers were set out by Bogerman Sibrandus and some others not without some reflection on the Magistrates for their Actings in it But this indulgence though at the present it was very advantageous to the Remonstrants as the case then stood cost them dear at last For Barnevelt having some suspition that Morris of Nassaw Prince of Orange Commander General of all the Forces of those Vnited Provinces both by Sea and Land had a design to make himself the absolute Master of those Countreys made use of them for the uniting and encouraging of such good Patriots as durst appear in maintenance of the common liberty which Service they undertook the rather because they found that the Prince had passionately espoused the Quarrel of the Contra Remonstrants From this time forwards the Animosities began to encrease on either side and the Breach to widen not to be closed again but either by weakning the great power of the Prince or the death of Barnevelt This last the easier to be compassed as not being able by so small a Party to contend with him who had the absolute command of so many Legions For the Prince being apprehensive of the danger in which he stood and spurred on by the continual Sollicitations of the Contra Remonstrnats suddenly put himself into the Head of his Army with which he march'd from Town to Town altered the Guards changed the Officers and displaced the Magistrates where he found any whom he thought disaffected to him and having gotten Barnevelt Grotius and some other of the Heads of the Party into his power he caused them to be condemned and Barnevelt to be put to death contrary to the fundamental Laws of the Countrey and the Rules of the Union This Alteration being thus made the Contra Remonstrants thought it a high point of Wisdom to keep their Adversaries down now they had them under and to effect that by a National Council which they could not hope to compass by their own Authority To which end the States General being importuned by the Prince of Orange and his Sollicitation seconded by those of KIng James to whom the power and person of the Prince were of like Importance a National Synod was appointed to be held as Dort Anno 1618. Barnevelt being then still living To which besides the Commissioners from the Churches of their several Provinces all the Calvinian Churches in Europe those of France excepted sent their Delegates also some eminent Divines being Commissioned by King James to attend also in the Synod for th eRealm of Britain A Synod much like that of Trent in the Motives to it as also in the managing and conduct of it For as neither of them was assembled till the Sword was drawn the terrour whereof was able to effect more than all other Arguments so neither of them was concerned to confute but condemn their Opposites Secondly The Council of Trent consisted for the most part of Italian Bishops some others being added for fashion-sake and that it might the better challenge the Name of General as that of Dort consisted for the most part
of Heavenly gifts he had no spot of uncleanness in him he was sound and perfect in all parts both outwardly and inwardly his reason was uncorrupt his understanding was pure and good his will was obedient and goldly he was made altogether like unto God in Righteousness in Holiness in Wisdom in Truth to be short in all kind of perfection After which having spoken of mans Temporal Felicities relating to the delicacies of the Garden of Eden and the Dominion which God gave him over all the Creatures the Homily doth thus proceed viz. But as the common nature of all men is in time of prosperity and wealth to forget not only themselves but also God even so did this first man Adam who having but one Commandment at Gods hand namely That he should not eat of the Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil did notwithstanding most unmindfully or rather most wilfully break it Hom. of the Nativity p. 168. in forgetting the strait charge of his Maker and giving ear to the crafty suggestion of the evil Serpent the Devil whereby it came to pass that as before he was blessed so now he was accursed as before he was loved so now he was abhorred as before he was most beautiful and precious so now he was most vile and wretched in the sight of his Lord and Maker instead of the Image of God he was now become the Image of the Devil instead of a Citizen of Heaven he was now become the Bond-slave of Hell having in himself no one part of his former purity and cleanness but being altogether spotted and defiled insomuch that now he seemed to be nothing else but a lump of sin and therefore by the just judgment of God was condemned to everlasting death This being said touching the introduction of the body of Sin the Homily doth first proceed to the propagation and universal spreading of it and afterwards to the Restitution of lost man by faith in Christ This so great and miserable plague for so the Homily proceedeth if it had only rested in Adam who first offended it had been so much the easier and might the better have been born but it fell not only on him but also in his Posterity and Children for ever so that the whole brood of Adams flesh should sustain the self same fall and punishment which their forefather by his offence most justly had deserved S. Paul in the fifth to the Romans saith By the offence of only Adam the fault came upon all men to condemnation and by one mans disobedience many were made sinners By which words we are taught that as in Adam all men universally received the reward of sin that is to say became mortal and subject unto death having in themselves nothing but everlasting condemnation both of body and soul c. Had it been any marvel if man-kind had been utterly driven to desperation being thus fallen from life to death from salvation to destruction from Heaven to Hell But behold the great goodness and tender mercy of God in this behalf albeit mans wickedness and sinful behaviour was such that it deserved not in any part to be forgiven yet to the intent be might not be clean destitute of all hope and comfort in time to come he ordained a new Covenant and made a sure promise thereof namely that he would send a Mediater or Messias into the world which should make intercession and put himself as a stay between both parties to pacifie the wrath and indignation conceived against sin and to deliver man out of the miserable curse and cursed misery whereunto he was fallen head-long by disobeying the Will and Commandment of the only Lord and Maker Which ground thus laid we will proceed unto the Doctrine of Predestination according to the sense and meaning of the Church of England which teacheth us according to the general current of the ancient Authors before Augustins time that God from all Eternity intending to demonstrate his power and goodness designed the Creation of the World the making of man after his own Image and leaving him so made in a perfect liberty to do or not to do what he was commanded and that foreknowing from all Eternity the man abusing this liberty would plung himself and his posterity into a gulf of miseries he graciously resolved to provide them such a Saviour who should redeem them from their sins to elect all those to life eternal who laid hold upon him leaving the rest in the same state in which he found them for their incredulity And this I take to be the method of Election unto life Eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord according to the Doctrine of the Church of England For althought there be neither prius nor posterius in the will of God who sees all things at once together and willeth at the first sight without more delay yet to apply his acts unto our capacity as were the acts of God in their right production so were they primitively in his intention But Creation without peradventure did forego the fall and the disease or death which ensued upon it was of necessity to be before there could be a course taken to prescribe the cure and the prescribing of the cure must first be finished before it could be offered to particular persons Of which and of the whole doctrine of Predestination as before declared we cannot have an happier illustration than that of Agilmond and Lamistus in the Longobardian story of Paul the Deacon In which it is reported That Agilmond the second King of Lombardy riding by a Fish-pond saw seven your Children sprawling in it whom their unnatural Mothers as the Author thinketh had thrown into it not long before Amazed whereat he put his hunting spear amongst them and stirred them gently up and down which one of them laying hold on was drawn to land called Lamistus from the word Lama which is the Language of that People and signifies a Fish-pond Trained up in that Kings Court and finally made his Successor in the Kingdom Granting that Agilmond being forewarned in a Vision that he should find such Children sprawling for life in the midst of that pond might thereupon take a resolution within himself to put his hunting spear amongst them and the which of them soever should lay hold upon it should be gently drawn out of the water adopted for his Son and made Heir of his Kingdom No Humane story can afford us the like parallel case to Gods proceeding in the great work of Predestination to Eternal Life according to the Doctrine of the ancient Fathers and the Church of Rome as also of the Lutheran Churches and those of the Arminian party in the Belgick Provinces Now that this was the Doctrine also of the Church of England will easily appear upon a due search into the Monuments and Records thereof as they stand backed by those learned religious men who had a principal hand in carrying on the great work of the Reformation
which was built upon it first taking in my way some necessary preparations made unto it by H. 8. by whom it had been ordered in the year 1536. That the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments should be recited publickly by the Parish Priest in the English Tongue and all the Sundays and other Holidays throughout the year And that the people might the better understand the duties contained in them it pleased him to assemble his Bishops and Clergy in the year next following requiring them Vpon the diligent search and perusing of Holy Scripture to set forth a plain and sincere Doctrine concerning the whole sum of all those things which appertain unto the Profession of a Christian man Which work being finished with very great care and moderation they published by the name of an Institution of a Christian man containing the Exposition or Interpretation of the common Creed the seven Sacraments the Ten Commandments Epls Dedit the Lords Prayer c. and dedicated to the Kings Majesty Submitting to his most excellent Wisdom and exact Judgment to be by him recognized overseen and corrected if he found any word or sentence in it amiss to be qualified changed or further expounded in the plain setting forth of his most vertuous desire and purpose in that behalf A Dedication publickly subscribed in the name of the rest by all the Bishops then being eight Archdeacons and seventeen Doctors of chief note in their several faculties Amongst which I find seven by name who had a hand in drawing up the first Liturgy of King Edward VI. that is to say Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Goodrich Bishop of Ely Hebeach then Bishop of Rochester and of Lincoln afterwards Skip then Archdeacon of Dorset after Bishop of Hereford Roberson afterwards Dean of Durham as Mayo was afterwards of S. Pauls and Cox of Westminster And I find many others amongst them also who had a principal hand in making the first Book of Homilies and passing the Articles of Religion in the Convocation of the year 1552. and so it rested till the year 1643. when the King making use of the submission of the Book which was tendred to him corrected it in many places with his own hand as appeareth by the Book it self remaining in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton Which having done he sends it so corrected to Archbishop Cranmer who causing it to be reviewed by the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation drew up some Annotations on it And that he did for this intent as I find exprest in one of his Letters bearing date June 25. of this present year because the Book being to be set forth by his Graces censure and judgment he would have nothing therein that Momos himself could reprehend referring notwithstanding all his Annotations to his Majesties exacter judgment Nor staid it here but being committed by the King to both Houses of Parliament and by them very well approved of as appears by the Statutes of this year Cap. 1. concerning the advancing of true Religion and the abolition of the contrary it was published again by the Kings command under the title of Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian man And it was published with an Epistle of the Kings before it directed to all his faithful and loving Subjects wherein it is affirmed To be a true Declaration of the true knowledge of God and his Word with the principal Articles of Religion whereby men may uniformly be led and taught the true understanding of that which is necessary for every Christian man to know for the ordering of himself in this life agreeable unto the will and pleasure of Almighty God Now from these Books the Doctrine of Predestination may be gathered into these particulars which I desire the Reader to take notice of Institut of a Christian that he may judge the better of the Conformity which it hath with the established Doctrine of the Church of England 1. That man by his own nature was born in sin and in the indignation and displeasure of God and was the very child of Wrath condemned to everlasting death subject and thrall to the power of the Devil and sin having all the principal parts or portions of his soul as reason and understanding and free-will and all other powers of his soul and body not only so destituted and deprived of the gifts of God wherewith they were first endued but also so blinded corrupted and poysoned with errour ignorance and carnal concupiscence that neither his said powers could exercise the natural function and office for which they were ordained by God at the first Creation nor could he by them do any thing which might be acceptable to God 2. That Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God the Father was eternally preordained and appointed by the Decree of the Holy Trinity to be our Lord that is to say to be the only Redeemer and Saviour of Man-kind and to reduce and bring the same from under the Dominion of the Devil and sin unto his only Dominion Kingdom Lordship and Governance 3. That when the time was come in the which it was before ordained and appointed by the Decree of the Holy Trinity That Man-kind should be saved and redeemed Necessary prayer than the Son of God the second Person in the Trinity and very God descended from Heaven into the world to take upon him the very habit form and nature of man and in the same nature of suffer his glorious Passion for the Redemption and Salvation of all Man-kind 4. That by this Passion and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ not only Corporal death is so destroyed that it shall never hurt us but rather that it is made wholesome and profitable unto us but also that all our sins and the sins also of all them that do believe in him and follow him be mortified and dead that is to say all the guilt and offence thereof as also the damnation and pains due for the same is clearly extincted abolished and washed away so that the same shall never afterwards be imputed and inflicted on us 5. That this Redemption and Justification of Man-kind could not have been wrought or brought to pass by any other means in the world but by the means of this Jesus Christ Gods only Son and that never man could yet nor never shall be able to come unto God the Father or to believe in him or to attain his favour by his own wit and reason or by his own science and learning or by any of his own works or by whatsoever may be named in Heaven or Earth but by faith in the Name and Power of Jesus Christ and by the gifts and graces of his Holy Spirit But to proceed the way to the ensuing Reformation being thus laid open The first great work which was accomplished in pursuance of it was the compiling of that famous Liturgy of the year 1549 commanded by King Edward VI. that is to
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
touching the subversion of Nineveh the other of her conversion kept within the heart of God Whereupon he changed the sentence pronounced but not the counsel whereunto the sentence weas referred 3. If you consider Nineveh in the inferiour cause that is in the deservings of Inineveh it shall fall to the ground but if you take it in the superiour cause in the goodness and clemency of Almighty God Nineveh shall escape Lastly the judgment was pronounced with a condition reserved in the mind of the judge Nineveh shall be overthrown if it repent not Now he that speaketh with condition may change his mind without suspition of lightness 2 Cor. 1. As Paul promised the Corinthians to come to them in his way towards Macedonia and did it not For he evermore added in his soul that condition which no man must exclude if it stand with the pleasure of God and he hinder me not Philip threatned the Lacedemonians that if he invaded their Country he would utterly extinguish them They wrote him no other answer but this If meaning it was a condition well put in because he was never like to come amongst them Si nisi non esset perfectum quidlibet esset If it were not for conditions and exceptions every thing would be perfect but nothing more unperfect than Nineveh if this secret condition of the goodness of God at the second hand had not been So far this Reverend Prelate hath discoursed of the nature of Gods decrees and accommodated his discourse thereof to the case of the Ninevites Let us next see how far the principal particulars of the said discourse and the case of the Ninevites it self my be accommodated to the Divine decree of Predestination concerning which the said Reverend Prelate was not pleased to declare his judgment either as being impertinent to the case which he had in hand or out of an unwillingness to engage himself in those disputes which might not suddenly be ended All that he did herein was to take care for laying down such grounds in those learned Lectures by which his judgment might be guessed at though not declared As Dr. Peter Baroe of whom more hereafter declared his judgment touching the Divine Decrees in the said case of the Ninevites before he fell particularly on the Doctrine of Predestination as he after did And first as for accommodating the case of the Ninevites to the matter which is now before us we cannot better do it than in the words of Bishop Hooper so often mentioned who having told us that Esau was no more excluded from the promise of grace than Jacob was Pres to his Expos on the ten Commandments proceedeth thus viz. By the Scripture saith he it seemeth that the sentence of God was given to save the one and damn the other before the one loved God or the other hated him Howbeit these threatnings of god against Esau if he had not of his wilful malice excluded himself from the promise of grace should no more have hindred his salvation than Gods threatnings against Nineveh which notwithstanding that God said should be destroyed within forty days stood a great time after and did penance Esau was circumcised and presented unto the Church of God by his Father Isaac in all external Ceremonies as well as Jacob. And that his life and conversation was not as agreeable unto justice and equity as Jacobs was the sentence of God unto Rebecca was not in the fault but his own malice Out of which words we may observe first that the sentence of God concerning Esau was not the cause that his conversation was so little agreeable to justice and equity no more than the judgment denounced against the Ninevites could have been the cause of their impenitency if they had continued in their sins and wickednesses without repentance contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospellers in Queen Maries days imputing all mens sins to Predestination Secondly that Gods threatnings against Esau supposing them to be tanta-mount to a reprobation could no more have hindred his salvation than the like threatning against the Ninevites could have sealed to them the assurance of their present destruction if he had heartily repented of his sins as the Ninevites did And therefore thirdly as well the decree of God concerning Esau as that which is set out against the Ninevites are no otherwise to be understood than under the condition tacitly annexed unto them that is to say that the Ninevites should be destroyed within forty days if they did not repent them of their sins and that Esau should be reprobated to eternal death if he gave himself over to the lusts of a sensual appetite Which if it be confessed for true as I think it must then fourthly the promises made by God to Jacob and to all such as are beloved of God as Jacob was and consequently their election unto life eternal are likewise to be understood with the like condition that is to say if they repent them of their sins and do unfainedly believe his holy Gospel The like may be affirmed also in all the other particulars touching Gods decrees with reference to the Doctrine of Predestination which are observed or accommodated by that learned Prelate in the case of the Ninevites had I sufficient time and place to insist upon them CHAP. XIX Of the first great breach which was made in the Doctrine of the Church by whom it was made and what was done towards the making of it up 1. Great alterations made in the face of the Church from the return of such Divines as had withdrawn themselves beyond Sea in the time of Queen Mary with the necessity of imploying them in the publick service if otherwise of known zeal against the Papists 2. Several examples of that kind in the places of greatest power and trust in the Church of England particularly of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist and the occasion which he took of publishing his opinion in the point of Predestination 3. His notes on one of the Letter of John Bradford Martyr touching the matter of election therein contained 4. The difference between the Comment and the Text and between the Author of the Comment and Bishop Hooper 5. Exceptions against some passages and observations upon others in the said Notes of Mr. Fox 6. The great breach made hereby in the Churches Doctrine made greater by the countenance which was given to the Book of Acts and Monuments by the Convocation An. 1571. 7. No argument to be drawn from hence touching the approbation of his doctrine by touching the approbation of his doctrine by that Convocation no more than for the Approbation of his Marginal Notes and some particular passages in it disgraceful to the Rites of the Church attire of the Bishops 8. A counterballance made in the Convocation against Fox his Doctrine and all other Novelisms of that kind IT was not long that Queen Mary sate upon the Throne and yet as short time as it was it gave
to be affirmed by the Bishops of Rochester Oxon and St. Davids in a Letter to the Duke of Buchingham August 2. 1625. In which they signifie unto him that the said Articles being agreed upon and ready to be published it pleased Queen Elizabeth of famous memory upon notice given how little they agreed with the practice of piety and obedience to all Government to cause them to be suppressed and that they had so continued ever since till then of late some of them had received countenance at the Synod of Dort Next touching the effect produced by them in order to the end so proposed so far they were from appeasing the present Controversies and suppressing Baroe and his party that his disciples and Adherents became more united and the breach wider than before And though Dr. Baroe not long after deserted his place in the University yet neither was he deprived of his Professorship as some say not forced to leave it on a fear of being deprived as is said by others For that Professorship being chosen from two years to two years according to the Statutes of the Lady Margaret he kept the place till the expiring of his term and then gave off without so much as shewing himself a Suiter for it Which had he done it may be probable enough that he had carried it from any other Candidate or Competitor of what rank soever The Anti-Calvinian party being grown so strong as not to be easily overborn in a publick business by the opposite faction And this appears plainly by that which followed on the death of Dr. Whitacres who died within few days after his return from Lambeth with the nine Articles so much talk'd of Two Candidates appeared for the Professorship after his decease Wotton of Kings Collegd a professed Calvinian and one of those who wrote against Mountague's Appeal Anno 1626. Competitor with Overald of Trinity Colledg almost as far from the Calvinian doctrine in the main Platform of Predestination as Baroe Harsnet or Barret are conceived to be But when it came to the Vote of the University the place was carried for Overald by the Major part which as it plainly shews that though the doctrines of Calvin were so hotly stickled here by most of the Heads yet the greater part of the learned Body entertained them not so doth it make it also to be very improbable that Baroe should be put out of his place by those who had taken in Overald or not confirmed therein if he had desired And therefore we may rather think as before is said that he relinquished the place of his own accord in which he found his Doctrine crossed by the Lambeth Articles and afterwards his peace distracted dy several Informations brought against him by the adverse faction and thereupon a Letter of Complaint presented to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh subscribed by most of those who before had prosecuted Barret to his Recantation Which Letter giving very great light to the present business as well concerning Barret as Baroe though principally aimed at the last I think worthy of my pains and the Readers patience and therefore shall subscribe it as hereafter followeth A Copy of the Letter sent from some of the Heads in Cambridge to the Lord Burleigh Lord High Treasurer of England and Chancellor of the University RIGHT HONOURABLE our bounden duty remembred we are right sorry to have such occasion to trouble your Lordship but the peace of this University and Church which is dear unto us being brought into peril by the late reviving of new Opinions and troublesom Controversies amongst us hath urged us in regard of the places we here sustain not only to be careful for the suppressing the same to our power but also to give your Lordship further information hereof as our honourable Head and careful Chancellor About a year past amongst divers others who here attempted publickly to teach new and strange Opinions in Religion one Mr. Barret more boldly than the rest did preach divers Popish Errors in St. Maries to the just offence of many which he was enjoyned to retract but hath refused so to do in such sort as hath been prescribed with whose fact and Opinions your Lordship was made acquainted hy Dr. Some the Deputy Vice-Chancellour Hereby offence and division growing as after by Dr Baroes publick Lectures and determinations in the Schools contrary as his Auditors have informed to Dr. Whitacres and the sound received Truth ever since her Majesties Reign we sent up to London by common consent in November last Dr Tyndal and Dr. Whitacres men especially chosen for that purpose for conference with my Lord of Canterbury and other principal Divines there that the Controversies being examined and the truth by their consents confirmed the contrary Errours and contentions thereabouts might the rather cease By whose good travel with sound consent in Truth such advice and care was taken by certain Propositions containing certain substantial points of Religion taught and received in this University and Church during the time of her Majesties Reign and consented unto and published by the best approved Divines both at home and abroad for the maintaining of the same truth and peace of the Church as thereby we enjoyed here great and comfortable quiet until Dr. Baroe in January last in his Sermon Ad Clerum in St. Maries contrary to restraint and Commandment from the Vice-Chancellour and the Heads by renewing again these Opinions disturbed our peace whereby his Adherents and disciples were and are too much emboldned to maintain false doctrine to the corrupting and disturbing of this University and the Church if it be not in time effectually prevented For remedy whereof we have with joint consent and care upon complaint of divers Batchelors of Divinity proceeded in the examination of the cause according to our Statutes and usual manner of proceeding in such causes whereby it appeareth by sufficient Testimonies that Dr. Baroe hath offended in such things as his Articles had charged him withal There is also since the former another Complaint preferred against him by certain Batchelors in Divinity that he hath not only in the Sermon but also for the space of this fourteen or fifteen years taught in his Lectures preached in his Sermons determined in the Schools and printed in several books divers points of doctrine not only contrary to himself but also contrary to that which hath been taught and received ever since her Majesties Reign and agreeable to the Errors of Popery which we know your Lordship hath always disliked and hated so that we who for the space of many years past have yielded him sundry benefits and favours here in the University being a stranger and forborn him when he hath often heretofore busie and curious in aliena Republica broached new and strange questions in Religion now unless we should be careless of maintaining the truth of Relgiion established and of our duties in our places cannot being resolved and confirmed in the truth of the
Tyranny over his Subjects may not be resisted that is to say if the Subject may not take up Arms against him he and his followers may destroy the Kingdom And and we are fallen upon the business of Resistance Calvin allows of no case for ought I can see in which the Subject lawfully may resist the Sovereign Sect. 23. quandoquidem resisti magistratui non potest quin simul resistatur Deo forasmuch as the Magistrate cannot be resisted but that God is resisted also and reckoning up those several pressures whereof Samuel spake unto the Jews and which he calls jus Regis as himself translates it he concludes at last Sect. 26. cui parere ipsi necesse esset nec obsistere liceret that no resistance must be made on the Subjects part though Kings entrench as much upon them both in their liberties and properties as the Prophet speaks of His Scholars are grown wiser and instruct us otherwise Paraeus saith that if the King assault our persons or endeavour to break into our Houses we may as lawfully resist him as we would do a Thief or Robber on the like occasions And our new Master have found out many other Cases in which the Subject may resist and which is more than so is bound to do it Paraeus in Rom. cap. 13. as namely in his own behalf and in Gods behalf in behalf of his Countrey and in behalf of the Laws and in so many more behalfs that they have turned most Christian Kings out of half their Kingdoms But to go on Calvin determins very rightly that notwithstanding any Contract made or supposed to be made between a King and his people yet if the King do break his Covenants and oppress the Subject the Subject can no more pretend to be discharged of his Allegiance than the Wife may lawfully divorce herself from a froward Hisband or Children throw aside that natural duty which they owe their Parents because their Parents are unkind and it may be cruel Those which do otherwise conclude from the foresaid Contract he calls insulsos ratioeinatores Sect. 29. but sorry and unsavory Disputants and reckoneth it for a seditious imagination that we must deal no otherwise with Kings than they do deserve nec aequum esse ut subditos ei nos praestemus qui vicissim Regem nobis non se praestet Sect. 27. or to imagine that it is neither sense nor reason that we should â—â—ew our selves obedient subjects unto him who doth not mutually perform the duty of a King to us His Scholars are grown able to teach their Master a new Lesson and would tell him if he were alive that there is a mutual Contract between King and Subjects and if he break the Covenant he forfeiteth the benefit of the Agreement and he not performing the duty of a King they are released from the duty of Subjects As contrary to their Masters Tenet as black to white and yet some late Pamphleters press no doctrine with such strength and eagerness as they have done this Nor have the Pulpits spaâ—ed to publish it to their cheated Auditories as a new Article of Faith that if the Ruler perform not his duty the Contract is dissolved and the people are at liberty to right themselves What excellent uses have been raised from this dangerous Doctrine as many Kings of Christendom have fest already so posterity will have cause to lament the mischiefs which it will bring into the World in succeeding Ages Finally Calvin hath determined and exceeding piously that if the Magistrate command us any thing which is contrary to the Will and word of God we must observe Saint Peters Rule and rather choose to obey God than men and that withal we must prepare our selves to endure such punishments as the offendd Magistrate shall inflict upon us for the said refusal Sect. 32. Et quicquid potius perpeti quam à veritate deflectere and rather suffer any Torments than forsake the way of Gods Commandments The Magistrate as it seems by him must at all times be honoured by us either in our active obedience or in our passive if we refuse to do his will we must be content to suffer for it His Scholars are too wise to submit to that and are so far form suffering for the testimony of the Gospel and a good conscience that they take care to teach the people that it is lawful to rebel in behalf of God to preserve the true Religion when it is in danger or when they think it is in danger by force of Arms and to procure the peace of Hierusalem by the destruction of Babylon Which being so the difference being so great and irreconcileable between the Followers and their Leader in the point of practice between the Master and the Scholars in the points of Doctrine me thinks it were exceeding fit the man were either less admired or better followed that they who cry him up for the great Reformer would either stand to all his Tenets or be bound to none that they would be so careful of the Churches peace and their own salvation as not to swallow down his Errors in his points of disciplines and pass him by with a Magister non tâ—netur when he doth preach Obedience to them and doth so solidly discourse of the powers of Government Tilly Philip. 2. Aut undique religionem suam toliant at usquequaque conserent as Tully said of Antony in another case But of this no more Hitherto CALVIN hath done will few better of the Genevian Doctors none ne unus quidem not so much as one But there 's an herb which spoils the pottage an HERB so venomous that it is mors in olla unto them that taste it The figs in the next basket are evil Jerem. 24. very evil not to be eaten as it is in the Prophets words they are so evil In that before he did exceeding soundly and judiciously law down the doctrine of obedience unto Kings and Princes and the unlawfulness of Subjects taking Arms against their Sovereign In this to come he openeth a most dangerous gap to disobedience and rebellions in most States in Christendom in which his name is either reverenced or his works esteemed of For having fully expressed the points before delivered unto the conscience of the Subject and utterly disabled them from lifting up their hands against the Supream Magistrate on any occasion whatsoever he shews them how to help themselves and what course to take for the asserting of their Liberties and the recovery of their Rights if the Prince invade them by telling them that all he spake before was of private persons Sect. 31. but that if there were any popular Officers such as the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome the Demarchi of Athens ordained for the restraint of Kings and Supream Governours it never was his meaning to include them in it And such power he doth suppose to be in the three Estates of
himself that whatsoever had been done in the alteration suffragio meo comprobavi he had confirmed and approved as a thing well done Calvin in Eplstola ad Cardinal Sadolet and therefore thought himself to be no less obliged to defend the action than if it had been done at first bh his own command For doubtless that of Tully is exceeding true Nil refert utrum voluerim fieri vel gaudeam factum Cicero in Philip 2. between the doing of a soul and disloyal act and the approbation of it when it is done is but little difference But to proceed our Author being thus made a party in the cause and quarrel of Geeva thought himself bound not only to justifie unto others what himself approved but also to lay down such grounds whereby the Example might be followed and their disloyalty and rebellion the less observed because they did not go alone without company In which respect and 't is a thing to be observed althoughthat Book of Institutions hath been often printed and received many alterations and additions as before was noted yet this particular passage still remains unaltered and hath continued as it is from the first Edition which was in the year 1536. when the Rebellion of Geneva was yet fresh and talked of as an ill Example Nor was the man deceived in his expectation For as he grew into esteem and reputation in the World abroad so he attained at last to that power and Empire over the souls and consciences of his followers that his Errors were accounted Orthodox his defects Perfections and the revolt of the Genevians from their natural Prince must by no means be called Rebellion because projected and pursued by such popular Officers to whom it appertained of common course to regulate the Authority of Kings and Princes And though he doth not say expresly that there either are or ought to be such popular Officers in every Realm or common-wealth but brings it in upon the by with his ifs and ands yet ifs and ands are not allowed of in the Laws to excuse Rebellions Bacons History of King Henry the seventh and by the setting up of that dangerous Si quis si qui sintâ—populares Magistratus as his words there are he seems to make a Proclamation that where there were such Popular Officers it was their bounden duty to correct their Princes after the manner of Geneva where there were none the people were God help them in an ill condition unless some other means were thought of for their ease and remedy Upon which Principles of his his folowers raised such Positions and pursued such practices as have distracted and embroyled the most parts of Europe and made it of a Garden to become a Wilderness For finding that they could not easily create such popular Magistrates to lord it over Kings and Princes who had not been accustomed to the like Controlments they put that power of regulating the Supream Authority either upon the body of the people generally whereof you were told before from Buchannan or upon such to whom they should communicate or transser their Power as occasion served whereof you may hear further in that which followeth And that not only in the case of civil Liberty for which the Examples of the Ephori and the Roman Tribunes were at first found out and that of the Demarchi thrust upon the Readers for the like foul end but specially in such matters which concerned Religion wherein the extraordinary calling of some men in the holy Scriptures must serve for Precedents and Examples to confirm their practices From hence it was that Buchannan doth not only subject his King unto the Ordinary Judges and Courts of Justice as before was noted but fearing that Kings would be too potent to be so kept under adviseth this Buchann de jure Regni Eorum interfectoribus praemia decerni that Rewards should publickly be decreed for those who kill a Tyrant and Kings and Tyrants are the same as heretofore in the word and notion so now in the Opinion of the Presbyterian or Calvinian faction as usually are proposed to those who kill Wolves or Bears From hence it was that the inferiour or subordinate Magistrate is advanced so high as to be entituled to a Power adversus Superiorem Magistratum se Rempub. Ecclesiam etiam armis defendere Paraeus in Epistola ad Rom. cap. 13. of taking Arms against the King or Superiour Magistrate in defence of himself his Countrey and true Religion which though they are the words of Paraeus only yetthey contain the mind and meaning of all the rest of that faction as his son Philip doth demonstrate In Append. ad Cap. 13. Epist ad Rom. Cambden Annal Eliz. An. 1559. Hence was it that John Knox delivered for sound Orthodox doctrine Procerum esse propria autoritate Idololatriam tollere Principes intra legum rescripta per vim reducere that it belonged unto the Peers of each several Kingdom to reform matters of the Church by their own Authority and to confine their Kings and Princes within the bounds prescribed by Law even by force of Arms. Hence that Geselius one of the Lecturers of Roterdam preached unto his people Necessaria Respons Jean de Serres inventnire de Fr. History of the Netherlands Thuan. hist l. 114. Camden Annal An. 15 59. Laurea Austriaca Continuati Thuan. hist l. 8. that if the Magistrates and Clergy did neglect their duty in the reformation of Religion necesse est id facere plebeios that then it did belong to the common people who were bound to have a care thereof and proceed accordingly And as for points of Practice should we look that way what a confusion should we find in most parts of Europe occasioned by no other ground than the entertainment of these Principles and the scattering of these positions amongst the people Witness the Civil Wars of France the revolt of Holland the expulsion of the Earl of East-Friezland the insurrections of the Scots the Tumults of Bohemia the commotions of Brandenburg the translation of the Crown of Sweden from the King of Pole to Charles Duke of Finland the change of Government in England all acted by the Presbyterian or Calvinian party in those several States under pretence of Reformation and redress of grievances And to say truth such is the Genius of the Sect that though they may admit an Equal as parity is the thing most aimed at by them both in Church and State yet they will hardly be persuaded to submit themselves to a Superiour to no Superiours more unwillingly than to Kings and Princes whose persons they disgrace whose power they ruinate whose calling they endeavour to decry and blemish by all means imaginable First for their calling they say it is no other than an humane Ordinance and that the King is but a creature of the peoples making whom having made they may as easily destroy and unmake again Which as it is the
darling Doctrine of this present time so is it very eagerly pursued by Buchannan who affirms expresly Quicquid juris populus alicui dederit Buchann de jure Regni idem justis de causis posse reposcere that whatsoever power the people give unto their King or Supream Magistrate they may resume again upon just occasions Their Power they make so small and inconsiderable that they afford them very little even in matters of Temporal and no Authority at all in things Spiritual Calvin professeth for himself that he was very much agrieved to hear that King Henry the eighth had took unto himself the Title of Supream Head of the Church of England accuseth them of inconsiderate zeal nay blasphemy who conferred it on him and though he be content at last to allow Kings a Ministerial power in matters which concern the Reformation of Gods Publick Worship yet he condemns them as before of great inconsiderateness Calvin in Amos cap. 7. Qui facerent eos nimis spirituales who did ascribe unto them any great authority in spiritual matters The designation of all those who bear publick Office in the Church the calling of Councils or Assemblies the Presidency in those Councils Ordaining publick Fasts and appointing Festivals which anciently belonged unto Christian Princes as the chief branches of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is vested in them are utterly denied to Kings and Princes in their Books of Discipline Insomuch that when the Citizens of Embden did expel their Earl they did it chiefly for this reason Thuan. hist l. 114. Quod se negotiis Ecclesiasticis Consistorialibus praeter jus aequitatem immisceret that he had intermedled more than they thought fit in Ecclesiastical causes and intrenched too much upon their Consistory As for their power in Temporal or civil Causes by that time Knoxes Peers and Buchannans Judges Paraeus his inferiour Magistrates and Calvins popular Officers have performed their parts in keeping them within the compass of the Laws arraigning them for their offences if they should transgress opposing them by force of Arms if any thing be done unto the prejudice of the Church or State and finally in regulating their Authority after the manner of the Spartan Ephori and the Roman Tribunes all that is left will be by much too little for a Royd'Ivitot or for a King of Clouts as we English phrase it Last of all for their persons which God held so sacred that he gave it for a Law to his people Israel not to speak evil of their Princes saying Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people Let us but look upon these men and we shall find the basest attributes too good for the greatest Kings Calvin calls Mary Queen of England by the name of Proserpine Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and saith that she did superare omnes Diabolos that all the Devils of Hell were not half so mischievous Beza affords Queen Mary of Scotland no better Titles than those of Medea and Athaliah Beza in Epist ad Jo. of which the last was most infamous in divine the other no less scandalous in humane stories the one a Sorceress and a Witch the other a Tyrant and Usurper The Author of the Altare Damascenum whosoever he was can find no better attribute for King James of most blessed memory than infensissimus Evangelii hostis Didoclaviuâ— in Epistola ad â—â—ctor the greatest and deadly Enemy of the Gospel of Christ And Queen Elizabeth her self did not scape so clear but that the zealous Brethren were too bold sometimes with her Name and Honour though some of them paid dearly for it and were hanged for their labour How that seditious Hugonot the Author of the lewd and unworthy Dialogue entituled Eusebius Philadelphus hath dealt with three great Princes of the House of France and what reproachful names he gives them I had rather you should look for in the Author than expect from me being loath to wade too far in these dirty puddles save that I shall be bold to add this general Character which Didoclavius gives to all Kings in general viz. Naturâ insitum est in omnibus Regibus Christi odium that all Kings naturally hate Christ which may serve for all This is enough to let us see how irreconcileable an hatred these of the Calvinian faction bear against Kings and Princes how well they play the part of the very Antichrist in exalting themselves against whatsoever is called God and that the special reason why they affect so much to be called the Saints is out of a strong probable hope to see the day in which they shall bind Kings in chains and all the Princes of the earth in fetters of iron Finally such is their disaffection unto sacred Monarchy which they have sucked out of the grounds and principles here laid down by Calvin that we may justly say of them what was most truely said of the ancient Romans quasi nefas esset Regem aliquem prope eorum terminos esse Jâ—stin hist l. 29. they have bestirred themselves so bravely in defiance of the Regal Government as if they did account it an unpardonable sin to suffer any King though most good and gracious to border near them Which lest they should not be of power to compass by their popular Magistrates or by the Judges or the Peers or the People severally which make the main Battel for this Combat let us next look on the Reserve and see what hopes they have to effect the business by the three Estates conjoyned in Parliament or by what other name soever we shall call their meeting which Calvin in the last place doth reflect upon but cautiously with a qua forte or a peradventure as in that before CHAP. V. What are the three Estates in each several Kingdom in which CALVIN speaks and what particularly in the Realm of England 1. Of the division of a People into three Estates and that the Priests or Clergy have been always one 2. The Priests employed in Civil matters and affairs of State by the Egyptians and the Persians the Greeks Gauls and Romans 3. The Priests and Levites exercised in affairs of Civil Government by Gods own appointment 4. The Prelates versed in Civil matters and affairs of State in the best and happiest times of Christianity 5. The Clergy make the third Estate in Germany France Spain and the Northern Kingdoms 6. That antiently in the Saxon times the Ecclesiasticks of this Realm were called to all publick Councils 7. The Prelates an essential fundamental part of the English Parliament 8. Objections answered and that the word Clerus in the Legal notion doth not extend unto the Prelates 9. That the inferior Clergy of the Realm of England had anciently their Votes in Parliament to all intents and purposes as the Commons had 10. Objections answered and that the calling of the Clergy to Parliaments and Convocations were after different maners and by several Writs
great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de vita Mosis or Court of Sanhedrim And this is that which Casaubon doth also tell us from the most learned and expert of the Jewish Rabbins Non nisi nobilissimos è sacerdotibus Levitis caeteroque populo in lege peritissimos in Sanhedrim eligi Casaub Exercit in Baron 1. Sect. 3. that is to say that none but the most eminent of the Priests the Levites and the rest of the People and such as were most conversant in the Book of the Law were to be chosen into the Sanhedrim But to return again to the Book of God the power and reputation of this Court and Consistory having been much diminished in the times of the Kings of Judah was again revived by Jehosaphat Of whom we read that he not only did appoint Judges in the Land throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah 2 Chron. 19.5 but that he established at Hierusalem a standing Council consisting of the Levites and of the Priests and of the chief of the Fathers of Israel for the judgments of the Lord Ibid. r. 8. and for controversies according to the model formerly laid by God himself in the Book of Deuteronomy Which Court or Council thus revived continued in full force authority and power during the time of the captivity of Babilon as appears plainly by that passage in the Prophesie of Ezekiel where it is said of the Priests even by God himself Ezek. 44. v. 24. in controversie they shall stand in judgment compared with another place of the same Prophet where he makes mention of the Seventy of the Antients of the House of Israel Id. c. 8. v. 11. and Jaazaniah the Son of Shaphan standing in the midst as Prince of the Senate And after their return from that house of bondage they were confirmed in this authority by the Edict and Decree of Artaxerxes who gave Commission unto Ezra to set Magistrates and Judges over the People not after a new way of his own devising Ezra 6.7 v. 25. but after the wisdom of his God declared in the foregoing Ages by his Servant Moses In which estate they stood all the times succeeding until the final dissolution of that State and Nation with this addition to the power of the holy Priesthood that they had not only all that while their place and suffrage in the Court of Sanhedrim as will appear to any one who hath either read Josephus or the four Evangelists but for a great part of that time till the Reign of Herod the Supream Government of the State was in the hands of the Priests In which regard besides what was affirmed from Synesius formerly it is said by Justin Morem esse apud Judaeos ut eosdem Reges sacerdotes haberent that it was the custom of the Jews for the same men to be Kings and Priests Justin hist l. 36. and Tacitus gives this general note Judaeis Sacerdotu honorem firmamentum potentiae esse that the honour given unto the Priesthood amongst the Jews did most espeeially conduce to the establishment of their power and Empire And yet I cannot yield to Baronius neither Tacit. hist l. 3. where he affirms the better to establish a Supremacy in the Popes of Rome Summum Pont. arbitrio suo moderari magnum illud Concilium Baron Annal. An. 57. c. that the High Priest was always President of the Council or Court of Sanhedrim it being generally declared in the Jewish Writers that the High Priest could challenge no place at all therein in regard of his offence and descent but meerly in respect of such personal abilities as made himself to undergo such a weighty burden for which see Phagius in his notes on the 16 of Deuteronomy Thus have we seen of what authority and power the Priests were formerly as well amongst the Jews as amongst the Gentiles we must next see whether they have not been employed in the like affairs under the Gospel of Christ and that too in the best and happiest times of the Christian Church In search whereof it is not to be looked for by the ingenuous Reader that we should aim so high as the first 300 years after Christs Nativity The Prelates of the Church were suspected then to have their different aims and interesses from those who had the government of the Civil State and therefore thought uncapable of trust and imployment in it But after that according to that memorable maxim of Optatus Deschismat Donatist l. 3. Ecclesia erat in Republicâ the Church became a part of the Common-wealth and had their ends and aims united there followed these two things upon it first that the Supream Government of the Church depended much upon the will and pleasure of the Supream Magistrate Scorat Eccl. hist lib. 5. c. 1. insomuch as Socrates observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the greatest Councils have been called by their authority and appointment And 2ly That the Governours and Rulers of the Church of God came to have place and power in disposing matter that appertained to the well ordering of the Civil State And this they did not our of any busie or pragmatical desire to draw the cognizance of secular causes into their own hands or to increase their power and reputation with the common People but meerly for the ease and benefit of those who did repair unto them for their help and counsel and to comply with the command of the Apostle who imposed it on them S. Austin tells us of S. Ambrose with how great difficulty he obtained an opportunity of conversing with him privately and at large as his case required Secludentibus eum ab ejus aure atque ore catervis negociosorum hominum August Confes l. 6. c. 3. the multitude of those who had business to him and suits to be determined by him debarring him from all advantages of access and conference Which took up so much of his time that he had little leisure to refresh his body with necessary food or his mind with the reading of good Authors And Posidonius tells us of S. Austin causas audisse diligenter pie that he diligently and religiously attended such businesses as were brought before him not only spending all the morning in that troublesome exercise Posidon in vita August c. 19. but sometimes fasting all day long the better to content the suitor and dispatch the business The like S. Austin tells us of himself and his fellow Prelates first that the Christians of those times pro secularibus causis suis nos non raro quaererent August in Psal 118. serm 74 Epist 147. did ordinarily apply themselves unto them for the determining of secular causes and chearfully submitted unto their decisions next that the Prelates did comply with their earnest solicitations and desires therein Tu multuosissimas eausarum alienarum perplexitates patiendo Id. de opere Monach. c. 29. by
things are commanded to all men both Priests and Monks and not to temporal men only which he declareth in the beginning when he said Let every soul be subject to the highest powers although thou be an Apostle although thou be an Evangelist although thou be a Prophet although thou be whatsoever thou art Which said he gives this reason for it That Religion is not overthrown by this subjection If no Apostle could pretend to an exemption from those common duties which Subjects owe unto their Princes then certainly the Pope who pretends to sit in Peters Chair and to challenge all the priviledges which belonged unto him must needs be in as great subjection to a Christian Emperor as the Apostles were in their times to any Heathen King If those things were required of Priests and Monks as he says they were then must the Papal Clergy whether they be Monastick or secular Priests perform those duties and yield that due obedience unto those Kings and Princes under whom they live which are here required But so it is that partly by strong hand and partly by taking their opportunities in the darker Ages of the Church the Pope hath not only freed his Clergy from the power of Princes in matters even of Civil nature and concernment but challengeth for himself a power above them and exercised it for a long time with great pride and Tyranny contrary to the Apostles Rule and the Fathers Commentary If to Evangelist or Prophet could challenge any such exemption as the Father plainly saith they could not then much less can the Presbyterian Minister pretend unto it though he be both a Prophet and an Evangelist also in his own conceit Which notwithstanding the Scotish Presbyterians had got unto so great a head in the minority of King James in all matters which related to Ecclesiastical congnizance and to that cognizance they reduced all matters they commonly declin d the Kings judgment and his Courts of Judicature as altogether incompetent appealing from them either to their own Presbyteries or to the next general Assembly of their own appointing and standing so wilfully to those Appeals that some of them had like to have paid dear for it after that Kings coming into England if the King had not been more merciful to them than that they deserved at his hands If no man whatsoever he be can lawfully acquit himself from this subjection as is said by Chrysostom what will become of Calvins popular Magistrates and of the great Authority which he gives them over Kings and Princes those popular Officers being included equally with the rest of the people in St. Pauls injunction It s true that Calvins popular Officers may seem to have some colour for it both from our English Translation and the vulgar Latin by which obedience is required sublimioribus potestatibus to the higher powers and all such popular Officers whatsoever they be may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people But first the words in the Original viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not so properly signifie the higher as the supream powers and so the word is rendâ—ed in the first of S. Peter cap. 1. ver 13. in which submission is required to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supream or unto such as are sent by him c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Peter in the singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Paul in the plural number both words proceeding from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Nominative Case and consequently being of the same sense and signification But secondly permitting them the benefit of these Translations yet will they find but little colour for that coercive power that Sovereign Authority and Jurisdiction which Calvin hath assigned to the three Estates or any other popular Officers over Kings and Princes For though such popular Officers may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people as before was said yet are they lower powers in respect of the King from whom as they receive all the Authority which they have whatsoever it be so unto him they are to render an accompt of their actings in it whensoever he pleaseth So that these popular Officers may be compar'd not unntly unto the Genera subalterna in the Schools of Logick each of them being subordinate to one another the Constable to the Mayor or Bayliff in a Corporate Town or to the Justices of the Peace in the County at large the Mayors and Justices to the Judges in their several Circuits the Judges in their several Circuits and their Courts of Judicature to the Lord Chancellor for the time being and he unto the three Estates when convened in Parliament till they end all in genus summum in that supream power which is subordinate to none and unto which the rest are Species subalternae as the Logicians phrase it in their several Orders till they end all in Specie infimâ even in the lowest of the People Less comfort can I give them from the Apostle of the Jews from the words of St. Peter in which submission is required as before was said to every ordinance of man whether it be unto the King as unto the Supream or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well Now those which are thus authorised and sent by Kings to the ends and purposes before mentioned may very properly be resembled unto Jehosophats Commissioners in the Kingdom of Judah or the itinerary Judges in the Realm of England 2 Chron. 17.7 and can neither claim nor exercise any other Authority than what in their Commissions and instructions is assigned unto them And certainly no King did or will ever grant any such Commission whereby his Under-officers and Inferior Magistrates may challenge any power above him or exercise any jurisdiction or Authority over him If any thing in this Text may be thought to favour Calvin in this strange opinion it is that Kings are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humana creatura saith the vulgar Latin an Ordinance of Man as the English read it and being but a Creature of the Peoples making the rest may think themselves as good men as he The Rhemists will have Kings to be called humane Creatures because Elected by the people or holding their Sovereignty by birth and carnal propagation ordained for the wealth peace and prosperity of the Subjects to put a difference betwixt that humane Superiority and the spiritual Rulers and Regiments guiding and governing the people to an higher end and instituted by God himself immediately Christ having expresly constituted the form of Regiment used ever since in the Church Whereunto Dr. Fulk for want of a better doth return this Answer viz. That though there be great difference between the government of
held on the 25th of June 1622. were severally condemned to be erroneous scandalous and destructive of Monarchical Government Upon which Sentence or determination the King gave order that as many of those books as could be gotten should solemnly and publickly be burnt in each of the Universities and St. Pauls Church-yard which was done accordingly An accident much complained of by the Puriten party for a long time after who looked upon it as the funeral pile of their Hopes and Projects till by degrees they got fresh courage carrying on their designs more secretly by consequence more dangerously than before they did The terrible effects whereof we have seen and felt in our late Civil Wars and present confusions But it is time to close this point and come to a conclusion of the whole discourse there be no other Objections that I know of but what are easily reduced unto those before or not worth the answering 15. Thus have we taken a brief survey of those insinuations grounds or principles call them what you will which Calvin hath laid down in his book of Institutions for the incouragement of the Subjects to rebellious courses and putting them in Arms against their Sovereign either in case of Tyranny Licentiousness or Mal-administration of what sort soever by which the Subject may pretend that they are oppressed either in point of Liberty or in point of Property And we have shewn upon what false and weak foundations he hath raised his building how much he hath mistaken or abused his Authors but how much more he hath betrayed and abused his Readers For we have clearly proved and directly manifested out of the best Records and Monuments of the former times that the Ephori were not instituted in the State of Sparta to oppose the Kings nor the Tribunes in the State of Rome to oppose the Consuls nor the Demarchi in the Common-wealth of Athens to oppose the Senate or if they were that this could no way serve to advance his purpose of setting up such popular Officers in the Kingdoms of Christendom those Officers being only found in Aristocraties or Democraties but never heard or dreamt of in a Monarchical Government And we have shewn both who they are which constitute the three Estates in all Christian Kingdoms and that there is no Christian Kingdom in which the three Estates convened in Parliament or by what other name soever they do call them have any authority either to regulate the person of the Sovereign Prince or restrain his power in case he be a Sovereign Prince and not meerly titular and conditional and that it is not to be found in Holy Scripture that they are or were ordained by God to be the Patrons and Protectors of the common people and therefore chargeable with no less a crime than a most perfidious dissimulation should they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly abuse that power which the Lord hath given them to the oppression of their Subjects In which last points touching the designation of the three Estates and the authority pretended to be vested in them I have carried a more particular eye on this Kingdom of England where those pernicious Principles and insinuations which our Author gives us have been too readily imbraced and too eagerly pursued by those of his party and opinion If herein I have done any service to supream Authority my Countrey and some misguided Zealots of it I shall have reason to rejoyce in my undertaking If not posterity shall not say that Calvins memory was so sacred with me and his name so venerable as rather to suffer such a Stumbling-block to be laid in the Subjects way without being censured and removed than either his authority should be brought in question or any of his Dictates to a legal tryal Having been purchased by the Lord at so dear a price we are to be no longer the Servants of men or to have the truth of God with respect of persons I have God to be my Father and the Church my Mother and therefore have not only pleaded the cause of Kings and Supream Magistrates who are the Deputies of God but added somewhat in behalf of the Church of England whose rights and priviledges I have pleaded to my best abilities The issue and success I refer to him by whom Kings do Reign and who appointed Kings and other Supream Magistrates to be nursing Fathers to his Church that as they do receive authority and power from the hands of God so they may use the same in the protection and defence of the Church of God and God even their own God will give them his Blessing and save them from the striving of unruly people whose mouth speaketh proud words and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity FINIS De Jure Paritatis Episcoporum OR A BRIEF DISCOURSE ASSERTING THE Bishops Right of Peerage WHICH EITHER By Law or Ancient Custom DOTH Belong unto them WRITTEN By the Learned and Reverend PETER HEYLYN D. D. In the Year 1640. When it was Voted in the Lords House That no Bishop should be of the Committee for the preparatory Examination of the EARL of STRAFFORD He being dead yet speaketh Heb. xi 4. LONDON Printed by M. Clark for C. Harper 1681. A PREFACE ALthough there are Books enough writ to vindicate the Honours and Priviledges of Bishops yet to those that are fore-stalled with prejudice and passion all that can be said or done will be little enough to make them wise unto sobriety to prevail with them not to contradict the conviction of their mind with absurd and fond reasonings but that Truth may conquer their prepossessions and may find so easie an access and welcome unto their practical judgments that they may profess their faith and subjection to that order which by a misguided zeal they once endeavoured to destroy Many are the methods that have been and are still used to rase up the foundation of Episcopacy and to make the Name of Bishop to be had no more in remembrance For first some strike at the Order and Function it self And yet St. Paul reckons it among his faithful sayings 1 Tim. 3.1 that the Office of a Bishop is a good work And the order continued perpetually in the Church without any interruption of time or decrees of Councils to the contrary for the space of many Centuries after the Ascension of Christ and the Martyrdom of the Apostles For they ordained Bishops and approved them Before St. John died Rome had a succession of no less than four viz. Linus Anacletus Clemens and Evaristus Jerusalem had James the just and Simeon the Son of Cleophas Antioch had Euodius and Ignatius and St. Mark Anianus Abilius and Cerdo successively fill'd the See of Alexandria All these lived in St. Johns days and their order obeyed by Christians and blessed by God throughout the whole world for the Conversion of Jews and Gentiles for the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of
and that the way being thus laid open it was no hard matter to make the Bishop of Carlisle obnoxious to that kind of Trial which being forsaken on all sides as the times then were he was not able to avoid Which might be also the condition of Arch-bishop Cranmer and as for Fisher Bishop of Rochester he was to deal with an impetuous and violent Prince who was resolved to put the greater disgrace upon him because he had received some greater Honours from the Pope than the condition of Affairs might be thought to bear But against all these violations of their Rights of Peerage it may be said in their behalves for the times to come that by the Statute of the 25th of King Edward the 3d which serves to this day for the standing Rule in Cases of Treason it is required that the Malefactor or the suspected person must be attainted by such men as are of his own Condition and therefore Bishops to be tryed by none but the Peers of the Land unless it be in open opposit on to this Rule of King Edward and in defiance to the fundamental Law in the Magna Charta where it is said that no man is to be Disseised of his Freehold exiled or any ways destroyed nisi per Judicium parium suorum Or per Legem Terrae but by the Judgment of his Peers and by the Law of the Land and I can find no Law of the Land which tells me that a Bishop shall be tryed by a Common Jury Finally if it be a sufficient Argument that Bishops ought not to be reckoned as Peers of the Realm because they may be tryed by a Common Jury then also at some times and in certain Cases the Temporal Lords Dukes Marquesses Earls c. must not pass for Peers because in all Appeals of Murder they are to be tryed by Common Jurors like the rest of the Subjects But secondly it is objected That since a Bishop cannot sit in Judgment on the death of a Peer nor be so much as present at the time of his Trial they are but half-Peers as it were not Peers to all intents and purposes as the others are But this incapacity is not laid upon them by the Laws of the Land or any Limitation of their powers in their Writ of Summons or any thing inhering to the Episcopal Function but only by some ancient Canons and more particularly by the fourth Canon of Toledo which whether they be now of force or not may be somewhat questioned Secondly whensoever they withdrew themselves they did it with a salvo Jure paritatis as before is shewn To which intent they did not only cause their Protestations to be filed on Record Coke Institut part 4. fol. 23. but for the most part made a Proxy to some Temporal Lords to Act in their behalf and preserve their right which though they did not in the Case we had before us yet afterwards in the 21st of King Richard the 2d and from that time forwards when they found Parliamentary Impeachments to become more frequent they observed it constantly as it continues to this day Nor were they hindred by those Canons whatsoever they were from being present at the depositions of Witnesses or taking such preparatory examinations as concern the Trial in which they might be able to direct the Court by the Rules of Conscience though they withdrew themselves at the time of the sentence That was a Trick imposed upon the Bishops by the late long Parliament when they excluded them from being members of the Committee which was appointed for taking the examinations in the business of the Earl of Strafford And this they did not in relation to those ancient Canons but upon design for fear they might discover some of those secret practices which were to be hatched and contrived against him Against which Preparations for a final Trial or taking the Examinations or hearing of depositions of Witnesses or giving counsel in such cases as they saw occasion the Council of Toledo saith not any thing which can be honestly interpreted to their disadvantage So that the Bishops Claim stands good to their right of Peerage any thing in those ancient Canons or the unjust practices of the late Long Parliament to the contrary notwithstanding To draw the business to an end what one thing is required unto the constituting of a Peer of England which is not to be found in an English Bishop if Tenure and Estate they hold their Lands per integram Baroniam as the old Lords did if Voice in Parliament they have their several Writs of Summons as the Lay-Lords have if we desire Antiquity to make good their Interesse most of them have sat longer there in their Predecessors than any of our Temporal Lords in their noblest Ancestors if point of Priviledg they have the same in all respects as the others have except it be in one particular neither clearly stated nor universally enjoyed by those who pretend most to it if Letters Patents from the King to confirm these Honours they have his Majesties Writ of Conge d'eslire his Royal Assent to the Election his Mandate under the Great Seal for their Consecration If therefore we allow the Bishops to be Lords of Parliament we must allow them also to be Peers of the Realm There being nothing which distinguisheth a Peer from from a common Person but his Voice in Parliament which was the matter to be proved A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS The Way of the Reformation of the Church of England declared and justified SECT I. I. THE Introduction shewing the Occasion Method and Design of the whole Discourse Page 1 I. Of Calling or Assembling the Convocation of the Clergy and the Authority thereof when convened together Page 2 II. Of the Ejection of the Pope and vesting the Supremacy in the Regal Crown Page 5 III. Of the Translation of the Scriptures and permitting them to be read in the English Tongue Page 7 IV. Of the Reformation of Religion in the points of Doctrine Page 10 V. Of the Reformation of the Church of England in the Forms of Worship and the times appointed thereunto Page 14 VI. Of the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the directing of the people in the publick duties of Religion Page 18 VII An Answer to the main Objections of either Party Page 20 SECT II. I. That the Church of England did not innovate in the Ejection of the Pope and setling the Supremacy in the Regal Crown Page 23 II. That the Church of England might proceed to a Reformation without the approbation of the Pope or the Church of Rome Page 26 III. 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 Page 30 IV. That the Church did not innovate in Translating the Scriptures and the publick Liturgy into vulgar Tongues and of the Consequents thereof to the
Church it self Page 34 V. That the proceedings of this Church in setting out the English Liturgy were not meerly Regal and of the power of Sovereign Princes in Ecclesiastical affairs Page 38 VI. That the Clergy lost not any of their just Rights by the Act of submission and that the power of calling and confirming Councils did anciently belong to the Christian Princes Page 41 Of Liturgies CHAP. I. What doth occur and whether any thing at all for set Forms of Prayer from the time of Adam unto Moses I. PRayer and the chief Exercise of publick Worship Page 49 II. The ground use and necessity of publick prayer ibid. III. What priviledg belongs unto the Priest or Minister in that part of Gods worship which consists in Prayer Page 50 IV. The inconvenience and confusion that must needs arise for want of set forms in the Worship of God Page 51 V. Liturgies or set Forms of Prayer in use amongst all sorts of people Jew Gentiles Christians ibid. VI. The meaning of the werd Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Civil sense Page 52 VII As also in the Ecclesiastical Notion of it ib. VIII Whether the Offerings of Cain and Abel were regulated by a prescribed Form Page 53 IX A prescribed Form of Worship conceived by some to have been introduced by Enos Page 54 X. The Sacrifices and Devotions of the ancient Patriarchs for the most part occasional only Page 55 XI The consecrating of set places for Gods worship first begun by Jacob. ibid. CHAP. II. That from the time of Moses unto that of David the Jews were not without a Liturgy or set Form of Worship I. The Israelites in the Land of Egypt bad not the liberty of publick worship Page 56 II. That people made a constituted Church first in the time of Moses Page 57 III. The prescribed Rites and Form of Legal Sacrifices in the time of Moses Page 58 IV. Set Forms of Prayer and Benediction used at the offering of Sacrifices in the time of Moses Page 59 V. The Song of Moses made a part of the Jewish Liturgies ibid. VI. The Form and Rites used in the celebration of the Passover according to Joseph Scaliger Page 60 VII The same together with the Hymns then used described by Beza ibid. VIII The several Prayers and Benedictions which were used therein according to the Jewish Rabbins Page 61 IX A form of Blessing of the people prescribed by God unto the Priests a prescribed Form used by the people at the offering of their first fruits and tithes Page 62 X. The like in burning of their Leaven and in confessing of their sins to Almighty God as also in the excommunicating of impenitent persons Page 63 XI An Answer to two main Objections from and against the Jewish Rabbins Page 64 XII The Forms of Marriage and Rites of Burial used amongst the Jews Page 65 CHAP. III. Of the condition and estate of the Jewish Liturgy from the time of David unto Christ I. Several hours of Prayer used among the Jews and that the Prayers then used were prescribed Forms Page 66 II. The great improvement of the Jewish Liturgy in the time of David by the addition of Psalms and Instruments of Musick Page 67 III. The form of celebrating Gods publick service according to Davids Institutions prescribed by the Jewish Rabbins Page 68 IV. The solemn form used in the Dedicating of the first and second Temples Page 69 V. The Temple principally built for an House of Prayer Page 70 VI. The several and accustomed Gestures used among the Jews in the performance of Gods publick worship ibid. VII The weekly reading of the Law on the Sabbath days not used until the time of Ezra Page 72 VIII The reading of the Law prescribed and regulated according to the number of the Sections by the care of Ezra and of the 18 Benedictions by him composed Page 73 IX The Exposition of the Law prescribed regulated and ordered by the Authority of the Church Page 74 X. The first foundation of Synagogues and Oratories and for what employments Page 75 XI The Church of Jewry ordained Holy-days and prescribed forms of Prayer to be used thereon Page 76 XII Set days for publick Annual Fasts appointed by the Jewish Church with a set form of Prayer agreeably to the occasion Page 77 XIII The form of celebrating Gods publick Service according as it is described by Jesus the Son of Syrac ibid. XIV Jesus the Son of God conforms himself unto the Forms established in the Jewish Church Page 78 XV. A transition from the Forms received in the Jewish Church to those in use among the Gentiles Page 79 CHAP. IV. That antiently the Gentiles had their Liturgies or prescribed Forms of Prayer and publick Worship of God I. The use of Sacrifice amongst the Gentiles before Moses time Page 80 II. Times Priests and Temples sanctified and selected by the Gentiles for the publick service of their gods ibid. III. A general proof that antiently the Gentiles had their Liturgies and set Forms of worship Page 81 IV. Preparatory Forms used at the celebration of their Sacrifices Page 82 V. The Rites and Forms used in the Sacrifice it self Page 83 VI. Several short forms of words observed amongst the Gentiles both Greek and Latin in their publick Sacrifices Page 84 VII Set Forms of prayer used unto Jupiter Mars Janus Juno and other of the gods and goddesses Page 85 VIII The solemn Form used by the Gentiles in evocation of the gods of besieged Cities Page 86 IX As also in devoting themselves or Enemies to a certain ruine for preservation of the Common-wealth Page 87 X. The several Gestures of the Gentiles in the act of publick Worship prescribed and regulated ibid. XI The Rites and Forms used by the Greeks particularly in their solemn Sacrifices Page 89 XII A prescript Form of Matrimony amongst the Romans ibid. CHAP. V. That in the time of the Apostles Liturgies or set Forms of Ministration in the Christian Church were composed and used I. The Jews and Gentiles made one Church by Christ our Saviour Page 91 II. A Form of Prayer prescribed by Christ to his Disciples Page 92 III. The Institution of the Christian Sacrifice with the set Form thereof by our Lord and Saviour Page 93 IV. That the Lords Prayer with other Benedictions were used by the Apostles in the celebration of the blessed Eucharist Page 94 V. A Form of celebrating Gods publick service prescribed in the first of St. Paul to Timothy according to the judgment of the Fathers Page 95 VI. The Form and manner of Gods publick Service described in the first to the Corinthians Page 96 VII The Hymns and Psalms used in the Church of Corinth were not voluntary but prescribed and set and of the Musick therewith used Page 97 VIII That 't is probable that the Apostles ordained Liturgies for the publick use Page 98 IX What may be said touching the Liturgies ascribed unto St. Peter Mark and James Page 99
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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
name of Sunday often used for the Lords day by the primitive Christians but the Sabbath never Page 422 CHAP. III. That in the fourth Age from the time of Constantine to Saint Austine the Lords day was not taken for a Sabbath day 1. The Lords day first established by the Emperour Constantine Page 423 2. What labours were permitted and what restrained on the Lords day by this Emperours Edict Page 424 3. Of other Holy days and Saints days instituted in the time of Constantine Page 425 4. That weekly other days particularly the Wednesday and the Friday were in this Age and those before appointed for the meetings of the Congregation ibid. 5. The Saturday as highly honoured in the Eastern Churches as the Lords day was Page 426 6. The Fathers of the Eastern Churches cry down the Jewish Sabbath though they held the Saturday Page 427 7. The Lords day not spent wholly in Religious exercises and what was done with that part of it which was left at large Page 428 8. The Lords day in this Age a day of Feasting and that it hath been always deemed Heretical to hold Fasts thereon Page 429 9. Of Recreation on the Lords day and of what kind those Dancings were against the which the Fathers enveigh so sharply Page 430 10. Other Imperial Edicts about the keeping of the Lords day and the other Holy-days Page 432 11. The Orders at this time in use on the Lords day and other days of publick meeting in the Congregation Page 433 12. The infinite differences between the Lords day and the Sabbath Page 434 CHAP. IV. The great improvement of the Lords day in the fifth and sixth Ages make it not a Sabbath 1. In what estate the Lords day stood in S. Austins time Page 435 2. Stage plays and publick Shews prohibited on the Lords day and the other Holy days by Imperial Edicts Page 437 3. The base and beastly nature of the Stage-plays at those times in use Page 438 4. The barbarous bloody quality of the Spectacula or Shews at this time prohibited ibid. 5. Neither all civil business nor all kind of pleasure restrained on the Lords day by the Emperour Leo as some give it out The so much cited Canon of the Council of Mascon proves no Lords day Sabbath Page 440 6. The French and Spaniards in the sixth Age begin to Judaize about the Lords day and of restraint of Husbandry on that day in that Age first thought of Page 441 7. The so much cited Canon of the Council of Mascon proves no Lords day Sabbath Page 442 8. Of publick honours done in these Ages to the Lords day by Prince and Prelate Page 443 9. No Evening Service on the Lords day till these present Ages Page 444 10. Of publick Orders now Established for the better regulating of the Lords Day-meetings Page 445 11. All Business and Recreation not by Law prohibited are in themselves as lawful on the Lords day as on any other ibid. CHAP. V. That in the next six hundred years from Pope Gregory forwards the Lords day was not reckoned of as of a Sabbath 1. Pope Gregories care to set the Lords day free from some Jewish rigours at that time obtruded on the Church Page 447 2. Strange fancies taken up by some about the Lords day in these darker Ages ibid. 3. Scriptures and Miracles in these times found out to justifie the keeping of the Lords day Holy Page 448 4. That in the judgment of the most Learned in these six Ages the Lords day hath no other ground than the Authority of the Church Page 449 5. With how much difficulty the People of these times were barred from following their Husbandry and Law-days on the Lords day Page 450 6. Hüsbandry not restrained on the Lords day in the Eastern Parts until the time of Leo Philosophus Page 451 7. Markets and Handicrasts restrained with no less opposition than the Plough and Pleading Page 452 8. Several casus reservati in the Laws themselves wherein men were permitted to attend those businesses on the Lords day which the Laws restrained Page 453 9. Of divers great and publick actions done in these Ages on the Lords day Page 454 10. Dancing and other sports no otherwise prohibited on the Lords day than as they were an hinderance to Gods publick Service Page 455 11. The other Holy-days as much esteemed of and observed as the Lords day was Page 456 12. The publick hallowing of the Lords day and the other Holy-days in these present Ages Page 457 13. No Sabbath all these Ages heard of either on Saturday or Sunday and how it stood with Saturday in the Eastern Churches Page 458 CHAP. VI. What is the judgment of the School-men and of the Protestants and what the practice of those Churches in this Lords day business 1. That in the judgment of the School-men the keeping of one day in seven is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment Page 640 2. As also that the Lords day is not founded on Divine Authority but the Authority of the Church Page 461 3. A Catalogue of the Holy-days drawn up in the Council of Lyons and the new Doctrine of the Schools touching the native sanctity of the Holy-days Page 462 4. In what estate the Lords day stood in matter of restraint from labour at the Reformation Page 463 5. The Reformators find great fault both with the said new doctrine and restraints from labour Page 464 6. That in the judgment of the Protestant Divines the keeping of one day in seven is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment Page 465 7. As that the Lords day hath no other ground on which to stand than the Authority of the Church Page 466 8. And that the Church hath power to change the day and to transfer it to some other Page 467 9. What is the practice of all Churches the Roman Lutheran and Calvinian chiefly in matter of Devotion rest from labour and sufferance of lawful pleasures Page 468 10. Dancing cryed down by Calvin and the French Churches not in relation to the Lords day but the sport it self Page 470 11. In what estate the Lords day stands in the Eastern Churches and that the Saturday is no less esteemed of by the Ethiopians than the said Lords day Page 471 CHAP. VII In what estate the Lords day stood in this Isle of Britain from the first planting of Religion to the Reformation 1. What doth occur about the Lords day and the other Festivals amongst the Churches of the Brittans Page 472 2. Of the estate of the Lords day and the other Holy days in the Saxon Heptarchie Page 473 3. The honours done unto the Sunday and the other Holy-days by the Saxon Monarchs Page 474 4. Of the publick actions Civil Ecclesiastical mixt and Military done on the Lords day under the first six Norman Kings Page 476 5. New Sabbath doctrines broached in England in King Johns Reign and the miraculous original of the same
Doctrine in the Points disputed under the new establishment made by Queen Elizabeth 1. The Doctrine of the second Book of Homilies concerning the wilful fall of Adam the miserable estate of man the restitution of lost man in Jesus Christ and the universal redemption of all mankind by his death and passion Page 601 2. The doctrine of the said second Book concerning universal grace the possibility of a total and final falling and the co-operation of mans will with the grace of God Page 602 3. The judgment of Reverend Bishop Jewel touching the universal redemption of man-kind by the death of Christ Predestination grounded upon faith in Christ and reached out unto all them that believe in him by Mr. Alexander Nowel ibid. 4. Dr. Harsnet in his Sermon at St. Pauls Cross Anno 1584. sheweth that the absolute decree of Reprobation turneth the truth of God into a lie and makes him to the Author of sin Page 603 5. That it deprives man of the natural freedom of his will makes God himself to be double-minded to have two contrary wills and to delight in mocking his poor Creature Man ibid. 6. And finally that it makes God more cruel and unmerciful than the greatest Tyrant contrary to the truth of Scripture and the constant Doctrine of the Fathers Page 604 7. The rest of the said Sermon reduced unto certain other heads directly contrary to the Calvinian Doctrine in the points disputed ibid. 8. Certain considerations on the Sermon aforesaid with reference to the subject of it as also to the time place and persons in and before which it was first preached Page 605 9. An Answer to some Objections concerning a pretended Recantation falsly affirmed to have been made by the said Mr. Harsnet ibid. 10. That in the judgment of the Right Learned Dr. King after Bishop of London the alteration of Gods denounced judgments in some certain cases infers no alteration in his Councils the difference between the changing of the will and to will a change Page 606 11. That there is something in Gods decrees revealed to us and something concealed unto himself the difference between the inferiour and superiour causes and of the conditionality of Gods threats and promises ibid. 12. The accomodating of the former part of this discourse to the case of the Ninevites Page 607 13. And not the case of the Ninevites to the case disputed ibid. CHAP. XIX Of the first great breach which was made in the Doctrine of the Church by whom it was made and what was done towards the making of it up 1. Great alterations made in the face of the Church from the return of such Divines as had withdrawn themselves beyond Sea in the time of Queen Mary with the necessity of imploying them in the publick service if otherwise of known zeal against the Papists Page 609 2. Several examples of that kind in the places of greatest power and trust in the Church of England particularly of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist and the occasion which he took of publishing his opinion in the point of Predestination ibid. 3. His Notes on one of the Letters of John Bradford Martyr touching the matter of Election therein contained ibid. 4. The difference between the Comment and the Text and between the Author of the Comment and Bishop Hooper Page 612 5. Exceptions against some passages and observations upon others in the said Notes of Mr. Fox ibid. 6. The great breach made hereby in the Churches Doctrine made greater by the countenance which was given to the Book of Acts and Monuments by the Convocation Anno 1571. Page 613 7. No argument to be drawn from hence touching the approbation of his doctrine by that Convocation no more than for the Approbation of his Marginal Notes and some particular passages in it disgraceful to the Rites of the Church attire of the Bishops ibid. 8. A counterballance made in the Convocation against Fox his Doctrine and all other Novelisms of that kind Page 614 CHAP. XX. Of the great Invocation made by Perkins in the publick Doctrine the stirs arising thence in Cambridge and Mr. Barrets carriage in them 1. Of Mr. Perkins and his Doctrine of Predestination with his recital of the four opinions which were then maintained about the fame Page 614 2. The sum and substance of his Doctrine according to the Supralapsarian or Supra-creatarian way Page 615 3. The several censures past upon it both by Papists and Protestants by none more sharply than by Dr. Rob. Abbots after Bishop of Sarum Page 616 4. Of Dr. Baroe the Lady Margarets Professor in the Vniversity and his Doctrine touching the divine Decrees upon occasion of Gods denounced Judgment against the Ninivites ibid. 5. His constant opposition to the Predestinarians and the great increase of his Adherents Page 617 6. The Articles collected out of Barrets Sermon derogatory to the Doctrine and persons of the chief Calvinians ibid. 7. Barret convented for the same and the proceedings had against him at his first conventing Page 618 8. A Form of Recantation delivered to him but not the same which doth occur in the Anti-Arminianism to be found in the Records of the Vniversity ibid. 9. Several Arguments to prove that Barret never published the Recantation imposed upon him Page 619 10. The rest of Barrets story related in his own Letter to Dr. Goad being then Vice-Chancellor ibid. 11. The sentencing of Barret to a Recantation no argument that his Doctrine was repugnant to the Church of England and that the body of the same Vniversity differed from the heads in that particular Page 620 CHAP. XXI Of the proceedings against Baroe the Articles of Lambeth and the general calm which was in Oxon touching these Disputes 1. The differences between Baroe and Dr. Whitacres the address of Whitacres and others to Arch-bishop Whitgift which drew on the Articles of Lambeth Page 621 2. The Articles agreed on at Lambeth presented both in English and Latine Page 622 3. The Articles of no authority in themselves Archbishop Whitgift questioned for them together with the Queens command to have them utterly supprest ibid. 4. That Baroe neither was deprived of his Professorship nor compelled to leave it the Anti-Calvinian party being strong enough to have kept him in if he had desired it Page 623 5. A Copy of the Letter from the Heads in Cambridge to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh occasioned as they said by Barret and Baroe Page 624 6. Dr. Overalds encounters with the Calvinists in the point of falling from the grace received his own private judgment in the point neither for total nor for final and the concurrence of some other Learned men in the same opinion Page 625 7. The general calm which was at Oxon at that time touching these disputes and the Reasons of it ibid. 8. An Answer to that Objection out of the writings of judicious Hooker of the total and final falling Page 626 9. The disaffections of Dr. Bukeridge and Dr. Houson to Calvins
the Church must continue without Reformation or else it must be lawful for National particular Churches to reform themselves In such a case the Church may be reformed per partes part after part Province after Province as is said by Gerson But I do not mean to trouble you with this Dispute For that particular Churches may reform themselves by National or Provincial Councils when the Church general will not do it or that it cannot be effected by a General Council hath been so fully proved by my Lord of Canterbury in his learned and elaborate discourse against Fisher the Jesuite that nothing can be added unto so great diligence But if it be objected as you say it is that National Councils have a power of Promulgation only not of Determination also I answer first that this runs cross to all the current of Antiquity in which not only National but Provincial Councils did usually determine in the points of Faith and these too of the greatest moment as did that of Antioch which if it were somewhat more than a National was notwithstanding never reckoned for a General Council I answer secondly as before that for one Heresie suppressed in a General Council there hath been ten at least suppressed in National and Provincial Synods which could not be in case they had no power of Determination And thirdly That the Articles or Confession of the Church of England are only Declaratory of such Catholick Doctrines as were received of old in the Church of Christ not Introductory of new ones of their own devising as might be evidenced in particular were this place fit for it But what needs any proof at all when we have Confession For the Arch-Bishop of Spalato a man as well studied in the Fathers as the best amongst them ingenuously acknowledged at the High Commission that the Articles of this Church were profitable none of them Heretical and that he would defend the honour of the Church of England against all the World And this he said at the very time of his departure when his soul was gone before to Rome and nothing but his Carkass left behind in England The like avowed by Davenport or Franciscus à Sancta Clara call him which you will who makes the Articles of this Church rightly understood according to the literal meaning and not perverted to the ends of particular Factions to be capable of a Catholick and Orthodox sense which is as much as could be looked for from the mouth of an Adversary So much as cost one of them his life though perhaps it will be said that he died in prison and the burning of his body after his death though he endevoured to save both by a Retractation So that in this case too we have omnia bene nothing amiss in the proceedings of this Church with reference to the Pope or a General Council But you will say that though we could not stay the calling of a General Council which would have justified our proceedings in the eyes of our Adversaries it had been requisite even in the way of civil Prudence to have taken the advice of the Sister-Churches especially of those which were engaged at the same time in the same designs which would have added reputation to us in the eyes of our Friends As for the taking counsel of the Sister-Churches it hath been touched upon already and therefore we shall say no more as to that particular unless the Sister-Churches of these latter times had been like the Believers in the infancy of the Christian Faith when they were all of one heart and one soul as the Scripture hath it Act. 4. their counsels had been dilatory if not destructive 'T is true indeed united Counsels are the stronger and of greater weight and not to be neglected where they may be had but where they are not to be had we must act without them And if we look into the time of our Reformation we shall find those that were engaged in the same design divided into obstinate parties and holding the names of Luther and Zuinglius in an higher estimate than either the truth of the Opinion in which they differed or the common happiness of the Church so disturbed between them The breach not lessened but made wider by the rise of Calvin succeeding not long after in the fame of Zuinglius Besides that living under the command of several Princes and those Princes driving on to their several ends it had been very difficult if not impossible to draw them unto such an Harmony of affections and consent in judgment as so great a business did require So that the Church of England was necessitated in that conjuncture of affairs to proceed as it did and to act that single by it self which could not be effected by the common Counsels and joynt concurrence of the others 'T is true Melancthon was once coming over in King Henries days but staid his journey on the death of Queen Anne Bullen and that he was after sEnt for by King Edward IV. Regis Literis in Angliam vocor as he affirms in an Epistle unto Camerarius Anno 1553. But he was staid at that time also on some other occasion though had he come at that time he had come too late to have had any hand in the Reformation the Articles of the Church being passed the Liturgy reviewed and settled in the year before And 't is as true that Calvin offered his assistance to Arch-Bishop Cranmer for the reforming of this Church Si quis mei usus esset as his own words are if his assistance were thought needful to advance the work But Cranmer knew the man and refused the offer and he did very wisely in it For seeing it impossible to unite all parties it had been an imprudent thing to have closed with any I grant indeed that Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr men of great learning and esteem but of different judgments were brought over hither about the beginning of the Reign of K. Edward VI. the one of them being placed in Oxford the other in Cambridge but they were rather entertained as private Doctors to moderate in the Chairs of those Universities than any ways made use of in the Reformation For as the first Liturgy which was the main key unto the work was framed and settled before either of them were come over so Bucer died before the compiling of the Book of Articles which was the accomplishment thereof Nor do I find that Peter Martyr was made use of otherwise in this weighty business than to make that good by disputation which by the Clergy in their Synods or Convocations was agreed upon By means whereof the Church proceeding without reference to the different interesses of the neighbouring Churches kept a conformity in all such points of Government and publique order with the Church of Rome in which that Church had not forsaken the clear Tract of the primitive Times retaining not only the Episcopal Government with all the concomitants