Corinthian on which you insist so much does serve your purpose For S. Paul his Interposition in that business was purely Apostolical and Extraordinary from beginning to end the Cognisance he took was Extraordinary by his Apostolical Spirit or Revelation as Hierome interprets it absent in Body but present in Spirit The Censure Extraordinary which was to give the Incestuous up unto Satan as to a Tormentor So Hierome carries this also and the manner of the Execution extraordinary too to wit by delegation of his Apostolical Spirit to the Church of Corinth when you come together and my Spirit So that the whole Proceeding was extraordinary and though you are pleased to call it an Act of Episcopal or Prelatical Authority and to make an Argument of it for Diocesan Jurisdiction yet unless you can find Diocesans now that have the Spirit that can have a Cognisance of things at Distance by Revelation that can give up Persons to Satan as to a Tormentor and that can delegate their Spirit to a Congregation the Exception lying against it will still continue in Force Wherefore as yet I see no other Prelacy instituted by the Apostles but that of the Presbyters over the People nor are there any Officers now of any Denomination which ought to have though you seem to intimate that some ought a Mission like to that of the Apostles for as they were Ambassadours that were sent immediately by Christ as he was by God and brought their Credentials with them sealed by the Holy Ghost so I will not scruple to call them Extraordinary upon this Account too any more than to call the Presbyters and Deacons ordinary even though the Papists and the Socinians do so The first Missions were extraordinary whiles the Church was to be constituted but in a constituted setled Church in which the Officers are ordinary their Calling is so likewise But to let you know what Standard there is of Extraordinaries for this you demand I believe I have no more to do but to remind you of what you already know that the use of speaking or common Language is that Standard for certain you that have read so often in Cicero not to mention Livy Suetonius and others of Honores Extraordinarii Praesidium Extraordinarium Potestas Extraordinaria cannot be ignorant that that is Extraordinary which being not the setled standing perpetual order and use is only for some certain time and on some particular special Occasion or Accident And it is in this sense of the word that the Roman Magistrates in respect of time are distributed by Lipsius into Extraordinary and Ordinary when he says Aut enim Magistratus à tempoâ—ibus dividuntur ut Ordina ii Extraordinaâ—ii Illi dicti qui statis Temporibus semper in Republicâ essent uâ— Consulâ—s Praetores Ediles Tribuni Quaestores isti qui nec eodem tempore nec semper ut Dictatores Censores Inter-Reges c. It is true you tell me that the Commission Matth. 28. is not peculiar to the Apostles and that therefore it does not Evidence they were Extraordinary Officers for say you There is indeed a Charge given them to Baptize and Teach but it seems a wonderful way of proving them to be Extraordinary Officers from the Authority they had to do that which any Ordinary Minister may do and that by vertue of this Commission By vertue of this Commission Excuse me as to that every Body will not yield it some think that this Commission was personal given only unto the Apostles Go ye and inforced with a promise that related only to them directly Lo I am with you to the end of the world That is to the Consummation of the Mosaical Seculum for so they understand that Phrase and apprehend they have sufficient Reason to do so upon comparing it with Matth. 24. 3 14. But let that be as it will Indeed Is the Commission given to the Apostles Matth. 28. not peculiar to them Are they Empowered by it to do no more than every ordinary Minister may I had thought that ordinary Ministers had been limited and local not unlimited and oecumenical Officers and that by their Institution they were confin'd to Teach and Rule the particular Churches over which they were appointed and not to Teach and Rule the whole World or as the Apostles had to have care of all the Churches I pray tell me is a Parish-Priest of as great Authority as a Diocesan and yet a Diocesan compared with an Apostle is less than a Parish-Priest The whole World was the Diocess of the Apostles Go ye teach all Nations I profess I am much surprized to find you deny without Distinction that the Apostles were Extraordinary Officers especially after Dr. Cave in his History of the Lives of the Apostles which I believe you have read distinguishes their work and shews what was Extraordinary in it and what was Ordinary But possibly you foresaw that should you have spoken plainly and have said as he does that their ordinary work the standing and perpetual part of it was to Teach and Instruct the People in the Duties and Principles of Religion to Administer the Sacraments to Institute Guides and Officers and to Exercise the Discipline and Government of the Church I would easily reply That the Apostles had provided themselves of Successors as to all this work but that these Successors were the Presbyters which they Instituted in every Church to feed and govern it and that having ordained no others it looks as if they saw no need of others But having this Occasion I beg your pardon if I use it to set out more fully the Institution which the Apostles made for the Government and Edification of the Churches and how that Institution came to be altered and by what steps First then the Apostles instituted a Senate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a College of Presbyters in every Church to Feed and Govern it and this is evident from Acts 14. 23 25. where Paul and Barnabas are said not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Churches but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every Church to have ordained Elders a College of Elders not a single Elder or Bishop And as they are not said to have ordained a single Bishop or Elder in any Church so much less are they said to have ordained any Prelate or Intendant over many Churches every Church as a Body Politick Compleat had sufficient power within it self for all its Ends They ordained Elders in every Church And to me it is plain that Clement had regard to this practice of the Apostles when in the place I cited before upon another occasion he says of them That going through Countries and Cities preaching the Gospel they appointed the first Fruits of them to be Bishops and Deacons having approved or Confirmed them by the Spirit That the Apostles instituted many Presbyters and not a single Presbyter in every Church is further confirmed not only from the frequent mention of a Presbytery found in
the Bishops only to their ordinary and lawful Jurisdiction Invest them in any new or any that is unlawful at the Common Law or that is contrary to the Prerogative of our Kings All that I have said on this Occasion might receive a further Confirmation were there need of more by the famed Character of King Kenulphus made to the Abbot of Abington in which was a grant of Exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction as there also was in that of King Off a made to the Monastry of S. Albans by the Title of King Edgar who stiled himself Vicar of God in Ecclesiasticals by the Offering that Wolstan made of his Staff and Ring the Ensigns of his Episcopacy at the Tomb of Edward the Confessor by the Petition of the Archbishop and Clergy at the Coronation of our Kings by the form of the King 's Writ for Summoning a Convocation and of the Royal Licence that is commonly granted before the Clergy and Convocation can go upon any particular Debates In fine by the Statutes relating to Excommunication that do both direct and limit the Execution of that Censure and the proceedings upon it as to Capias's c. And thus much for Church-Government in the Third State of the Church as it is become incorporated by Civil Powers In discoursing of which I have made it plain That as no National Draught is of our Lord Christ's or his Apostles designing so that National Churches are all of Human Institution and their Government Ambulatory that is Alterable according as Times and Occasions and as the Forms of Civil Governments in States that do incorporate the Church oblige it to be to make it fit and suitable I am SIR Your Humble Servant THE THIRD LETTER SIR I Have always acknowledged some Episcopacy to be of Primitive Antiquity but you will please to remember I have likewise shewed that that Episco pacy was Presbyterial not Prelatical Congregational not Diocesan And that the Primitive Bishop was only a first Presbyter that is a Chairman in the College of Presbyters and not as in the Diocesan Hierarchy a Prelate of a superior Order that presided over several Congregational Churches and was invested with the Power of sole Ordination and Jurisdiction much less was he an Officer that kept Courts that had under him Chancellours Commissaries Officials Registers Apparitors c. and that judged per se aut per alium in certain reserved Cases To make this out I presented to you a Scheme of the Government of the Church both as it was established and settled by the Apostles and as it was afterwards I shewed That the Apostles in all their Institutions did carefully avoid any Imitation of the Temple-Orders to which Orders the Prelatical Hierarchy doth plainly conform I shewed also That the Government settled by the Apostles was only Congregational the Apostles in planting of Churches proceeding only after the Model and Way of the Synagogues Ay! all the Churches that we read of in Scripture that were constituted by the Apostles were only Congregational not National or Provincial that is they were as so many little Republicks each consisting of a Senate or Eldership with the Authority and of a People with the Power but all independant one of another and all possessed of all that Jurisdiction and Authority over their Members that was to be standing and ordinary For this Reason tho' every Congregation was but a part and a small one yet it had the Denomination of the whole every particular Congregation was stiled a Church This will appear more evident if we consider That the Interest of the People had at first and long after for above 150 Years in the Ordination of Officers was very great It is true the Word Ordination or that which answers to it in the Greek is never used throughout the whole New Testament for the making of Evangelical Officers nor did it in this Sense come into use among Christians till after the Christian Church began to accommodate to the Language as well as to the Orders of the Jewish But then as the People was called Laity and Plebs so the Clergy was called Ordo and this in the same Sense of the Word as when we read of the Order of Aaron and of that of Melchisedeck and then too the calling of any Person to the Ministry as it was a calling of him to be of the Clergy or Order so it was stiled an Ordination Ordination being nothing but the placing of a Person in the Order of the Clergy But tho' the Word Ordination was not as yet in use in the first Times the Thing was which is the Creation of Officers in the Church and in this the People possess'd so great a share which is a very good Argument of the Church's being framed at first after the Model and Way of Republicks that even the Action it self is called Chirotonia by S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and ever since by the Greek Fathâ—rs Ay the Creation of Officers is not usually called Chirothesia for this with the Greek Fathers was the Word that was mostly if not always used for Confirmation not for Ordination tho' Imposition of Hands the Ceremony signified by that Word was the Rite which was used by the Jews in creating of Rabbies and Doctors the Act of Ordination is usually if not always denominated Chirotonia or Extension of Hands which in the Greek Republicks was the Name or Word for the Popular Suffrage Indeed Paul and Barnabas are said to Chirotonize or as our Translators render the Word Acts 14. 23. To ordain them Elders in every Church But says Mr. Harrington they are said to do so but in the same Sense that the Proedri who were Magistrates to whom it belonged to put the Question in the Representative of the People of Athens are in Demosthenes said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the Suffrage and the Thesmothetae who were Presidents in the Creation of Magistrates are in Pollux said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to chirotonize the Strategi who yet ever since the Institution of Cliethenes that distributed the People into ten Tribes were always used to be elected and made by the Popular Suffrage Nor was this manner of Speaking peculiar unto the Greeks but as Calvin in his Institutions l. 4. c. 4. f. 15. observes it was a common Form used also by the Roman Historians who say That the Consul created Officers when he only presided at the Election and gathered the Votes of the People Et c'est uniforme commune de parler comme les Historiens disent quun Consul creoit des Officiers quand il recevoit le voix du peuple presedoit sur l' election So plain it is that S. Luke in saying that Paul and Barnabas did chirotonize the Elders intended to signifie no more but that the Elders were made by the Suffrage of the People Paul and Barnabas presiding at the Election and declaring or making the Crisis and so the New Latin Translation in
one Church and therefore that Titus may be a Bishop of the Cretians all the Churches of Crete must be Consolitated into one else among all the Churches in Crete I would fain know which was the Church of the Cretians where Titus resided If Titus was Bishop over all the Churches in Crete he was a Bishop of Bishops and at least a Metropolitan which indeed would be most in favour of the Hierarchy could it be Evidenced But this could not be the settlement that was made in Crete For it would be strange that the Apostle should appoint a Hierarchy in Crete that should differ from the form of Government setled upon the Continent by himself and Barnabas who constituted Elders in every Church without appointing that we read of any Superiour Bishop or Metropolitan that should have a General Care and Inspection over the several Churches For my part I could not see how Titus should understand his Commission which was to ordain Elders in every City to carry any other Intention with reference to Crete than the very same words do when they are used to signifie what Paul himself who gave him this Commission had done upon the Continent where he and Barnabas ordained Elders in every Church And therefore as Paul and Barnabas established single Congregations only and Organized them with Elders and then left them to govern themselves by their own Intrinsick powers So in the like manner Titus established Churches in every City and Organized them with Elders which having done it is very probable that he returned again unto S. Paul to give an account of his Commission Thus Titus his business in Crete has the very Idea and Signature of that of an Evangelist or a Secundary Apostle without the least Mark of an ordinary Bishop nor is there any hint in all the Authentick Scriptures of his being ordained Bishop of Crete or indeed of any place else And the like must be said of Timothy with reference to Ephesus who was sent to the Church there as a Visitor only with Apostolical Authority and so as S. Paul's Delegate Nor it Titus his ordaining of Elders a good Argument for sole Ordination for the word Tit. 1. 5. is the same that is used in Acts 6. 3. in the matter of the Deacons who were appointed by the Apostles not one of the Apostles but all and chosen by the People And one might well admire that the same word which is Translated appointed in one place should be rendred ordained in another but that Titus is said to ordain and not to appoint only that it might look as if there were a plain Text for sole Ordination But what if Timothy and Titus had a power of sole Jurisdiction and a power too of making Canons for the Government of the Church which latter yet is an Authority that every Bishop will not pretend unto after their Example The Church then was in a State of Separation from Secular Government and among Heathen just as the Jews are now among Christians so that all it could do at that time was to perswade it could not compel And therefore it will not follow now that the Church is protected and not only protected by but Incorporated into the State that the Officers of it must have the same powers and Exercise them in the same manner as before or as Mr. Selden expresses it That England must be Governed as Ephesus or Crete It is certain that Kings would gain but little by the Bargain not to say they must depart with their Sovereignty to Incorporate the Christian Religion should this be admitted that Church-Authority Church-Power must be still the same after such Incorporation as before For a separate National Jurisdiction Exercised by one or many is a Solecism in State especially if it claim by the Title of Iure divino a Title that renders it Independent upon as well as unboundable and uncontroulable by all that is human Such a Jurisdiction would weaken that of Kings and other States All their Subjects would be but half Subjects and many none at all and it is no more nor less but that very same thing that heretofore was found so inconvenient and burden some under the Papacy and that made the best and wisest and greatest of our Kings so uneasie A Clergy imbodied within it self and independent on the State is in a Condition of being made a powerful Faction upon any Occasion and easie to be practised upon as being united under one or a few Heads who can presently convey the Malignity to all their Subordinates and these to the People So that I lay it down as a Maxim that nothing can be of greater danger to any Government than a National Hierarchy that does not depend upon it or is not in the Measures and Interests of it Fresh Experience has learned us this I know not with what Design it was said by Padre Paulo Sarpio of Venice but his Words are very remarkable as I find them cited from an Epistle of his to a Counsellor of Paris in the Year 1609. I am afraid says he in the behalf of the English of that great power of Bishops though under a King I have it in Suspicion when they shall meet with a King of that goodness as they will think it easie to work upon him or shall have any Archbishop of an high Spirit the Royal Authority shall be wounded and Bishops will aspire to an Absolute Domination Methinks I see a Horse Sadled in England and I guess that the old Rider will get on his Back But all these things depend on the Divine Providence Thus he very prudently as to the main though perhaps with some mistake as to his Conjecture For my part I think it but reason that such Persons as have the Benefit of Human Laws should in so much be guided by them and that the Sword which owns no other Edge but what the Magistrate gives it should not be used but by his Direction As indeed the practice in England has always been For as Mr. Selden observes Whatever Bishops do otherwise than the Law permits Westminster-Hall can controul or send them to absolve c. He also says very well That nothing has lost the Pope so much in his Supremacy as not acknowledging what Princes gave him 't is a scorn says he on the Civil Power and an unthankfulness in the Priest But adds he the Church runs to Iure divino lest if these should acknowledge what they have by positive Laws it might be as well taken from them as given to them Ay This excellent Person goes further so much further as to tell us That a Bishop as a Bishop had never any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England for as soon as he was Electus Confirmatus that is after the Three Proclamations in Bow-Church he might Exercise Jurisdiction before he was Consecrated and yet till then that he was Consecrated he was no Bishop neither could he give Orders Besides says he Suffragans were
Ignatius which as I shall shew hereafter was Congregational but by the Express Testimony of Clement who blames the Church of Corinth for raising a Sedition and Stir against their Presbyters and therefore there were many in that Church only upon the Account of one or two Persons so that it is plain there was a College of Presbyters in the Ancient Apostolical Church of Corinth Again in the Presbytery or College which was ordained in every Church though all the Presbyters were equal the Institution making no Difference for Paul and Barnabas are said to Constitute Elders but not to Constitute Elders and a Bishop as a Superiour over them yet it being requisite for Order-sake that some one in every Assembly should have the Direction and that Honour naturally falling on the Eldest Presbyter unless some other Course be resolved it is most probable that at first the Eldest Presbyter as he had the first Place so he had the first Direction of Matters But afterwards it being found by Experience that the Eldest was not always the Worthiest and Fittest for that purpose it came to pass that the place devolved not any longer by Seniority but was conferred by Election And in this S. Ambrose if it be he and not rather Hillary in his Comment on the fourth to the Ephesians is plain Vid. Sixt. Senens Bibl. Sanct. l. 6. annot 324. And admitting that all the Presbyters were called Bishops as undoubtedly at first they were it is easie to conceive how the first Presbyter came to be called the Bishop and at last for Distinction-sake to have the Name of Bishop so appropriated to him that the rest retained only the Denomination of Presbyters But all this while the Bishop was but the first Presbyter and had no more Authority in the College of Presbyters than is allowed to S. Peter in the College of the Apostles by all Protestants Even Epiphanius himself if we may believe Danaeus was at last compelled to confess That in the Time and Age of the Apostles no such Distinction as that is which you contend for was to be found between the Bishops and Presbyters Again though all the Presbyters in every Church had like Authority to Preach and Rule both Functions being comprehended in the Episcopacy assigned to them 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. yet some of them being better qualifyed for the one and some for the other it is probable that they exercised their different Talents accordingly some of them more in the one and some more in the other This as strange as you may make it seems plainly intimated in that Injunction of the Apostles 1 Tim. 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the word and doctrin For here is a plain Distinction of Elders of which some being better at Ruling and some at preaching they exercised themselves according to the Talent they had those that were better at Ruling in Ruling and those that were better at Preaching in labouring in the Word and Doctrin And since Labouring in the Word and Doctrin had the special Honour no Question but the first Presbyter as most honourable was always of the number of those that laboured that way so that the Bishop was the Pastour also or Preaching Elder that is the Preaching Spiritual Work became appropriated to him at first Eminently but afterwards entirely and then nothing lay in Common between him and the Presbyters but only Rule And this is what I can gather from Scripture of the Apostolical Settlement Upon the whole it is evident That a Diocesan Bishop was unknown in the first Age of the Church and the only Bishop to be found then was the Presbyter which is further confirmâ—d in that the Scotâ— who received the Knowledg of Christianity very early even in that Age had not any Knowledge for many Ages after that appears oâ— any but Presbyterian Jurisdiction Even Bishop Spotiswood in his History of the Church of Scotland tells us out of Boethius and Boethius from Ancient Annals of the Culdees or Ancient Scottish Priests and Monks who he believes were called Culdees not because Culteres Dei as most think but because they lived in Cells their Names as he says being Kele-Dei and not Culdei in old Bulls and Rescripts He says of these Culdees That they were wont for their better Government to elect one of their Number by common Suffrage to be the Chief and Principâ—l among them without whose Knowledge and Consent nothing was done in any Matter of Importance and the Person so Elected was called Scotorum Episcopus a Scots Bishop and this was all the Bishop that he could find in the first Times But Bâ—chaâ—an is plainer who tells us That no Bishop to wit an Order superiour to that of the Presbyters ever presided in the Church of Scotland before Paliadius his Time the Church says he unto that Time was Governed by Monks without Bishops with less Pride and outward Pomp but greater Simplicity and Holiness Thus I have Eâ—idenced what the Sâ—aâ—e of Things was in the first Times of the Christian Churches to wit that those were governed by Presbyteries in which all the Presbyters were equal and all Bishops only for Order-sake there was a first Presbyter who having more Care and more Work had yet no more Authority and Power than any other but as the best Men are but Flesh and Blood and the best Institutions lyable to Rust and Canker so these were not exempted there was a Diotrephes in the Apostles own Times and those that followed him improved upon the Example The first Presbyter soon became advanced into another Order and from being First commenced Prince of the Presbyters We are told by Dâ—naeus who citeth Epiphanius and he might have cited others that this Departure from the Primitive Institution began in Alexandâ—ia and it is very probable That the Appointment of twelve Presbyters besides a President for so Eutichius assures us it was there did give occasion to the President who easily took the Hint to challenge to himself the Place and Authority of Christ when the very Number of Presbyters over whom he presided made it manifest that they were an Imitation of the Apostles But whether other Churches took their Pattern from that of Alexandria or no 't is easie to conceive in what manner and by what means the Mistake might gain upon them For after the first Presbyter became elected and consequently was separate by Prayer and Imposition of Hands no wonder he was â—oon taken for an Officer of another Order much Superiour unto that of the Presbyters who was distinguished from them by that Token of a new Ordination and was in place above them Ay it is highly probable That the first Recess from the Primitive Institution even in Alexandria began this way if that be true that Grotius hath observed That the Election of the President Presbyter came not in use there but after the Death
ordained to constitute it This Office as I evinced in my former Paper appertained to the Apostles it being their Work to lay the Foundation of the Christian Church by preaching the Doctrin of Christ as true upon their own Knowledg and consequently making Believers or Disciples which was to gather the Church as also by instituting of Officers and giving Rules about them which was to put the Church under Orders and to settle its Government On this Account the Church is said to be built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and the New Jerusalem the City of God or the Evangelical Church in its most reformed State is described in the Revelations to have twelve Foundations answering to the twelve Apostles who by the Doctrin which they preached and witnessed and the Order which they setled did indeed lay the Foundation of the Christian Church and set it on foot It is true the Evangelists as well as the Apostles were in part at least the Founders of particular Churches But the Apostles only with the Prophets have the Honour of being stiled Founders of the Church these being the only persons that were commissioned by our Lord Christ for that end He immediately sending and directing his Apostles but these sending and directing the Evangelists who are therefore called by some and not unfitly Apostoli Secondarii Apostles of the Second Order So that I do distinguish between the Founding of the Church which was done by the Apostles only and that of particular Churches which was performed by the Evangelists as well as by the Apostles By the Church which for distinction sake I call Essential to discriminate it from particular Constituted Churches I mean nothing but the whole Multitude or Company of the Faithful as they are united to Christ and hold Communion with him as well as one with another by one Common Faith and by the participation of the Holy Spirit And of this Church all that do believe in and make a true Profession of Christ though as yet they are not ranked in any particular one are Members and have their several Uses according to the Measure of the Dispensation given them from which Measure some are Principal and some are less Principal Members He gave some Apostles and some Prophets c. This Essential Church though it is a kind of a Body Society and City yet it is not a Secular Politick Body I mean not a Body united in it self under one External Visible Head by any Universal Politick Orders and Dependencies that run throughout it such as are in Secular Governments whether Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical to make them one But it is a Spiritual Mystical Body a Body united unto Christ the Head by the Spirit of Faith and Love under the Laws and Rules of Christianity a Religion which obliges all its Members to Communion one with another as much as is possible for mutual Edification and Comfort Could all the Members of the Christian Church have held Communion one with another and ordinarily have met together for the Discharge of Common Duties and Offices and all have been subject unto one External Government common to them there would still have been but one Congregation of them as there was at first and consequently but one Church as to External Orders But the Christian Church in the nature of it being Catholick and Univers◠that is not walled in and confined by distinguishing Rites and Customs as the Jewish was unto a particular People but lying in common to all Nations as much as unto any so that such External Communion and Government was absolutely impracticable in the whole as taken together therefore it was necessary that it should be practised as indeed it was only by Parts each of which Parts was to bear the Denomination of the Whole as being the whole in Little This is the Original of particular Churches in reference to which Churches it may be observed That as the Jewish Church which some call the Synagogue was founded in a Nation so the Christian Church eminently stiled the Church was founded in a particular Assembly the Mother Church at Ierusalem was only a single Congregation It was for the former Reason as well as for others that the Apostles when they instituted Church-Government did not give any General Scheme that should relate to the Catholick Church as to an External Body or to Provincial or to National Churches but they only setled Particular Churches as Homogenecal Parts of the Whole And these in this Order That as the whole Church was a free People that had not one only but many Apostles who by the Original Institution were to take the Care of it so in every particular Church which was to be a Vicinage under Orders or a Company of Professing People that could conveniently meet together for the Discharge of Christian Offices there should be not one only but many Presbyters a College of Presbyters answering to the College of the Apostles who should Rule and Govern but as over a Free People and therefore in all material Businesses with their Approbation and Suffrage Thus in the Mother-Church at Ierusalem besides the Apostles which were Extraordinary there was a Senate or College of Elders as the ordinary standing Officers and these with the whole Church or Body of the People and Brethren are convented upon the Business of Antioch And thus the Apostles Paul and Barnabas every where in every Church or Congregation are said to have established a Senate or Presbyters and that too by the Suffrage or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the People So that the Original Government of the Church of Apostolical Institution was only Congregational which Congregational Government consisted of the People or Brethren and of the Presbyters or Senate in which Senate he that presided tho' in process of Time he was called Bishop by appropriation of the Name which all the Presbyters enjoyed at first in Common yet in the Original Institution he was no more than the first-named Presbyter and so no otherwise distinguished in it than as Peter was in the Institution of the College of the Apostles who is still first named in it And such a Bishop I do acknowledg to have been from great Antiquity namely a Congregational Bishop that had the first Direction of Matters a Person that was Primus Presbyter a Presbyter only in Order and the first of that Order in the College of Presbyters But a Diocesan Bishop invested with the Power of sole Ordination and Jurisdiction and he a Suffragan too for this is the Bishop that is in Controversie between us this Bishop you must prove if you can and nothing is done if you do not prove him to be Apostolical Sure I am that S. Cyprian considered himself but as a first Presbyter and therefore as his Name for the Bishop is always prepositus in respect of the People So he calls the Presbyters his Compresbyters Ep. l. 4. ep 8. Ques ed primitivum Compresbyterum nostrum Et
l. 4. ep 6. Literae tuae per Quintum Compresbyterum missae Ay! the 25th Epistle of the 3d Book is directed to his Compresbyters And in the 24th Epistle of the same Book he calleth Rogatianus his Compresbyter but he no where calls the Deacous â—â—s Condeacors clearly implying by that Denomination that when he was made Bishop he ceased not to be a Presbyter as not become of another Order only he was now a President in it and possessed of the first Chair I do not find you deny the Institution of the Presbytery the which I have abundantly evinced or so much that in the first Times the Bishop was only the President of it or the first Presbyter which yet is the main of the Cause And you can as little deny if you will be just the Power and Interest of the People who are called in Scripture sometimes the Church and sometimes the Brethren and in Tertullian and Cyprian the Phbs. Thus you find in the Acts of the Apostles the People concerned in the Election of Matihias Peter spake to the whole Assembly Men and Brethren c. So in that of the Deacons Wherefore Brethren look you cut among you seven men of honest report c. And in the Ordination of the Presbyters for Paul and Barnâ—bas ordained with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the People Acts 14. 23. Again they are concerned in the Censure of the Incestuous Corinthian not only by way of Approbation as where it is said When you are gathered together c. 1 Cor. 5. 4. but by way of Judgment and Exâ—cution verfe 12 13. In fine even in the Debate and Decision of Controversies for the brethren were together with the apostles and elders and there was much disputing which I should think was rather among the People than among the Apostles and Elders And the Decretal Epistle goes as well in the name of the brethren as in that of the apostles and elders Acts 15. 1 7 22 23. Nor were the People entirely deprived and outed of their Original Power or Interest in Elections and Censures even in the Time of S. Cyprian for he plainly asserts to them the chief Share both in the Election of the Praeposii or Bishops that are worthy and in the rejection of the unworthy and this he doth both by the Congruity of the Old Testamet and the Practice recorded in the New not only allowing to them as some would have it a presence in all Transactions but affirming their Power Cypri n's Word is potestas and their Suffrage Propter quod plebs obsequens Praecepiis dominicis Deum metnens à pectore praeposio SEPARARE se debet cum ipsa maxime habeat potestatem vâ—l eligendi dignos Sacirdotes vel indignos recusardi For which reason a people that observes the Lord's Commands and fears God ought to separate themselves from a Bishop that is wicked in as much as they principally have the power both of electing worthy Priests and of rejecting the unworthy This is further evident in the Resolve that Cyprian as himself professes assumed at his coming first to the Bishoprick which was That he would do nothing of business by himself and singly without the Counsel of the Elders and Deacons nor without the Consent of the People Solus rescribere nil potui cum à primordio Episcopatus mei statu rim nil sine concilio vestro writing unto the Elders and Deacons sine Consensu plebis meâ privatim sententiâ gerere In fine in Clemins Romanus who preceded Cyprian as living in the Age of the very Apostles themselves we have a plain Intimation of the Interest and Right of the People in the Election of Presbyters and in their Rejection from which also we may conclude the share they had in other matters for in his Epistle to the Corinthians he says Those who were appointed by the Apostles or by other Excellent Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Consent and Approbation of the whole Church and who lived worthily ought not to be injuriously deprived of their Ministration And by the way this Teâ—imony of Clement shews in what senfe it is said that Paul and Barnabas did Chirotonize Elders it being evident that it relates to that which stands upon Record in the Acts of the Apostles of what was done by those Two in that kind of business After the former evidences I do not see how it can be questioned that the Government of particular Churches was at first what I have affirmed it Popular and Democratical as consisting of the Authority of a Senate and of the power of a People or in S. Cyprian's Language of the Majesty of the People and the Authority of Priesthood Thus resembling the Greek Republicks and their Ecclesiae or popular Assemblies which at Athens were composed of Proedri who directed and ordered matters and of the People who voted And even Origen against Celsus L. 7. as Mr. Thorndike tells me for I have not Origen at present by me compares the Government of the Churches of Christ as I have to the Republicks of the Cities of Greece But possibly you will grant me that Congregational Government was of Apostolical Institution but it will be a matter of too hard a Digestion to yield there was no other Government that was likewise so And yet if you cannot give me an Apostolical Draught of any other Church-Government nor one Instance as I believe you cannot of any Church in the First Century or till toward the end of the Second if then but what was Congregational nor of any Officers besides the Apostles Evangelists and Prophets which were not local and limited to particular Congregations It must then be acknowledged that no other Government intended for after times but the Congregational was absolutely primitive and of Apostolical Original say not it might be though not recorded for Eadem est ratio non apparenâ—â—um non existentium to us it was not if it appears not perhaps but one Church in one City or Town at first but no Instance can be given of one Pastor over divers Cities and Towns The former â—truth is so great a one that even in the time of S. Cyprian when yet too many Novelties not to say Corruptions had invaded the Church the Usurpation that was then begun upon the Rights of the People had not prevailed so far but that as the Bishop of that time was Congregational only and local to speak generally so he was not ordained at large but to a certain People and Cure Thus saith S. Cyprian was Sabinus ordained The Passage is very remarkable and since it not only evidences the Point I have asserted but does also vindicate the Presbyterian way of Ordination used now as a way that was used at that time to wit by the Concurrence of preaching Ministers Prepositi or Bishops of several Congregations and the laying on of their or one of their hands for this reason I will cite it
resolved at last into the Testimony and Witness of those who had reâ—ived it from Christ and those particularly whose Office it was to transmit it â—to others and to Vouch it So that in this respect the Case is particular the â—peal was made unto the Apostles and Elders or old Disciples as those â—o having conversed with our Lord had immediately received the Christian â—trin from him which Reason for the Appeal was Peculiar to those Persons â—made and received it and therefore can be none for others taken either in the private or in representative Capacities Further there is something else in this business that was very peculiar I know it is affirmed That the Holy Ghost did assist in this Assembly in a special manner and that the same Assistance and Guidance is promised to all others that convene in Christ's Name either for the Decision of Controversies or for Government of the Church and that any Synod lawfully called and proceeding lawfully may say in their Decrees as the Apostles and Elders and Church do hear It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us I acknowledge them very learned and worthy Men that think so but I must beg their Pardon if I differ from them for with Submission I conceive that the Phrase It seemed good to the Holy Ghost hath no Relation to any Assistance and Guidance of the Holy Ghost that was afforded by any Extraordlnary Illumination of Mind to them that met on that occasion and so it makes nothing for Infallible Direction in Council Rather it relates unto the Decision which the Holy Ghost in Effect had already made of that Controversie by his Descending upon some of the Gentiles who had believed in Christ as Peter preached him without any mention of Moses or of his Law Acts 10. from 34. to 45. For it was the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the believing Gentiles who were Strangers to the Law A Descent that was not transacted immediately by the laying on of the Hands of any Apostles but was an Immediate Descent such an one as that was which had been made before upon the Apostles themselves on the day of Pentecost It was this Descent that being a sealing of them by the Holy Ghost Ephes. 1. 13. was urged by the Apostle Peter as an Argument against the Imposition of the Mosaical Yoke which Argument was confirmed and strengthened by Barnabas and Paul and at last by Iames who doth not give a Difinitive Sentence as the Translation carries it and you somewhere say but only gives his Judgment And this in fine did carry the matter so that it is evident that no Council Synod or Assembly of Men may say It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us in their Decisions as the Apostles and Elders did and because they did if that Council Synod or Assembly has not such a particular Manifestation of the Holy Ghost to bottom their Decisions as the Apostles and Elders had when the Apostles and Elders said It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us they meant it seemed good to the Holy Ghost by his Descent and to themselves upon full Debate But to return The Church wilest it stood in its State of Separation from Secular Government must be considered to have been in a Double Condition the first while the Apostles were living who as they had an Extraordinary Charge so they had a proportionable power over all the Church the second after the decease or other removal of the Apostles when the Church was left to it self for in these different Circumstances the proceedings were very different both as to the punishing of Offenders and to the ending of Controversies Whilst the Apostles who had an Extraordinary and Supernatural Rod were living and in a Condition to use that Rod as there needed no other Discipline but that to terrifie flagitious and great Offenders so I find no other used and that too but rarely the greater Excommunication had no place that I can find unless where Diotrephes ruled in that State of the Church Besides the Apostolical Rod it was only Non conversing with or abstaining from the Society of Offenders that was used as a Remedy for the Reducing of them and this by Apostolical Order Indeed the Apostles were not so much for cutting off from the Church as for inviting and calling Men into it The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a Dragnet But after the Decease or other removal of the Apostles when the terrour of their Rod was vanished and when God himself did no longer as at first he seem'd to have done in Extraordinary manner particularly punish for particular Sins as in the Case of the Corinthians For this cause many are sick and weak among you c. and no Assistance could be had from the Sword of the Magistrate without Scandal in that State necessity grew upon the Church to make its Discipline straighter and more awful that so having something in it of severe and rigorous the Terrour of it might restrain and the Execution reform Hence came the Church-Covenant or voluntary Subjection which saith Lewis du Moulin is intimated by Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan in his Sacramento obstricti and says Mr. Selden by Origen contra Celsum when he spake of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Christians And hence by degrees and as occasions obliged it came to pass that Excommunications the greater and the lesser grew into use the former not so much by a positive Institution as by the Common Law of Society and the latter by Congruity to the Apostles Direction 1 Cor. 5. 11. Both which though they carryed terrour in themselves yet to add to it as the Estimate of the Privation ever doth depend upon that of the Possession Admission into the Church and consequently to the Lord's Table were practised with more Formality than in the Apostles times Now comes in a solemn Distinction of Chatechuneti and Fideles and the Candidates of Christianity must take time before them must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must pass through many Degrees before they can attain to the happiness of being admitted to a participation of the priviledges and rights of the Faithful It was now also that the Notion of a Catholick Vnity obtained which was not understood at that time to be Internal and Spiritual an Unity of Faith and Charity only But to consist in something External relating unto Order and Discipline as being an Unity that was to be maintained by Communicatory and other Letters and by Orders and that was intended to support the Notion of but one Bishoprick in the Church and that every Bishop participated of that one Bishoprick in Solidum A Notion that was of great use to make their Dicipline and Power the more pointed for if but one Church then to be cast out of any part of the Church was indeed to be ejected out of the whole and if but one Bishoprick to be participated by all the Bishops what
was done by one was done by All All did censure if one did the Expulsion made by one Bishop out of any Church was in effect an Expulsion from all the Churches and so a cutting off entirely from Christianity and all Communion of Saints Thus they aimed in a General Bishoprick at what the Church of Rome doth in a personal in affirming which I do not impose upon you for S. Cyprian is plain Hoc â—rant utique says he in his Tractate de simplicitate Praelatorum caeteri Apostoli quid fuit Petrus pariconsoriio praediti honoris potestatis sed Exordium ab unitate proficiscitur ut Ecclesia una monstretur c. quam unitatem firmiter tenere vindicâ—re debemus maximè Episcopi qui in Ecclesia praesidemus ut Episcopatum quoque ipsum unum utque Indivisum probemus Thence also came the Rails about the Table I mean the Differences of Communions Clerical and Laical to wit to raise the Reputation and Credit of the Clergy and withal to make their Ceusures the more solemn and awful as also that the Clergy who were obliged to a stricter and more exemplary life if they did not live it might have a peculiar Punishment which was to be thrust from the Clerical Communion and be degraded to that of the Laity In fine hence Publick Confessions and rigorous shaming Penances in all the Decrees of them Fletus Auditio Substractio Consistentia had their beginning and also solemn Absolutions by the Imposition of the Hands of the Bishop and of the Presbyters Which things as being only Human and Politick tho' not unnecessary for the Time are all of them alterable and some actually altered Again as Controversies arose in the Churches either about Matters of Doctrin or of Discipline the Apostles while they lived and were in a Condition those especially which founded such particular Churches where they arose did take care to end such Differences and were accordingly repaired unto for that purpose Thus in the Business of Antioch Appeal is made unto all the Apostles and for the Corinthians Galatian c. S. Paul particularly cared But after the Decease of the Apostles or a Failure of the Apostolical Infallible Guidance by other means the Controversies that arose in any Church became determined by the Common Counsel and Advice of other Churches either by their Letters or by a solemn Discussion and Debate in an Assembly of Bishops and Elders in Provincial Councils We do not read indeed of any Rule for this Practice but the Light of Nature or Common Reason directed it and there was something too that did lead unto it in the first Assembly at Ierusalem For as the Apostles and Elders were appealed unto by them of Antioch so the whole Church was convented and the Business considered and debated by the whole and by the whole resolved In sum the Churches of Christ in this separate State subsisted by themselves like so many little Republicks as being only in the World but not of it and therefore concerned not themselves in any Business with the Secular Powers And yet seeing their Members were Men as well as others and in the World as well as others and consequently liable to Passions and Misgovernment to Common Accidents of Providence and to Differences too arising in Worldly Matters it was absolutely necessary that some Provision should be made in all these Respects in the Church it self by Officers on purpose or else since there was no other Remedy all would run to Confusion Hence as the Ancient Christians had Deacons for the Poor so they had Wisemen as the Apostle calls them or Elders who to prevent the Scandal of their going to Law before the Heathen determined Matters by way of Arbitration and likewise restrained and suppressed exorbitant and evil Manners by censuring them Out of the Church to provide for the Poor to end Controversies between Man and Man and to punish evil doing was the Business of the Magistrate And this reminds me of the Third State of the Church when Magistrates and Powers becoming Christians the Christian Religion was taken by them into Civil Protection and became incorporated into the Laws as that of Israel was into theirs so that now States became Churches a State professing Christianity being a National Church and a National Church nothing but a Christian Nation in a Word a Holy Commonwealth Great was the Alteration that was made in the Government and Face of the Church in this Condition from what it was before for after the time that Emperours became Christian and that they shewed Kindness to the Church the Hierarchy became a Secular thing it being in this State that That and the Power of Councils attained to their full Growth but yet in several Countries by several Steps and Occasions Lavius in his Commentary of the Roman Commonwealth lib. 1. fol. 22. tells us That the Episcopal Diocesses of the Christian Religion do by many very great Tokens represent the Roman Antiquity and well he might for it is plain the Form of Civil Administration after the Roman Empire became Christian and in some degrees before was imitated in the Church and that both in the Provinces and Bounds of the Empire and in the City it self For as the Roman Empire was divided into several Pretories which Pretories were called Pretorian Diocesses or Sees and these Pretories again were subdivided into Provinces and that in every Pretory there was a Prefect of the Pretory who resided in the Metropolis called Sedes prima to administer and rule the Diocess and under the Prefect in the several Provinces there were other Principal Officers called Presidents to rule and govern them So in the Church there were the Metropolitan Primates or Archbishops who were seated in the Metropolis or Capital Cities and answered to the Prefects of the Pretories and there were Bishops that resided in the Inferious Citie who were called Suffragan Bishops and those resembled the Presidents of the Provinces l and the Parallel holds out further since a Person as Ioseph Scaliger observes might be a Bishop with Archiepiscopal Ornaments and yet not be an Archbishop in like manner as one might be an Officer with Consular Ornaments and yet not be a Consul The same Scaliger in his Epistles hb. 2. ep 184. also acquaints us That in the Time of Constantine the Great there were four Prefects of pretories the Prefect of the Pretorium of Constantionople the Illirian Prefect the Prefect of the Pretorium of Rome and the Prefect of the Pretorium in the Gallia Adding that seeing the Prefect of the Pretorium was of the same Degree that at this Day a Vice-Roy is he had under him Vicars and the Vicar he saith was the Governour of a Diocess or one that had under him a whole Diocess and a Diocess was a Government that contained under it several Metropolies or Capital Cities as a Metropolis had under it several Cities He further adds That the
Sentiment of that Excellent Person will be much confirmed if we consider Church Policy but in one Important Instance the calling of Bishops for this as it has received frequent Alteration and been very different in different times and Countries so it was All upon prudential regards In Cyprian's time as in that of the Apostles it was as it were Iussu populi Authoritate Senatus by Choice of the People and appointment of other Bishops How it is now All know and in the intermediate times it has not always been after one manner but various according unto various times and occasions In short the business of Pastors and Teachers who are permanent and standing Officers in the Church of Christ is to feed the Flock by preaching and administring the Sacraments and on occasion to denounce Eternal Torments the true Spiritual Censure And this will be their business to the Worlds endâ— But for External Rule and Jurisdiction this being but accidental to their Office and arising only from the particular Circumstance in which the Church was while separate from the State now that the Magistrate is Christian it doth entirely devolve upon him the Christian Magistrate is the Ruling Presbyter and whom he appoints as Overseers of the Poor may be called the Deacons It is certain that in our English Constitution not to speak of the French and that of other Foreign Kingdoms however some may talk of Iure divino all Government or Jurisdiction the Spiritual as they call it as well as the Temporal is derived from the King who in this sense is supream Ordinary Bishop and Governour in all Causes and therefore in all Courts and Jurisdictions This is evident both as to the Legislative part of the Government and to the strictly Jurisdictive for as my Author tells me out of the British Councils All the Church Laws in the time of the Saxons were made in the Micklemote And indeed it were easie to evince that most of the Ancient Synods and Councils in England as well as in other Countries were meer Parliaments As for the Consistory Court which every Archbishop and the Bishop of the Diocess hath as holden before his Chancellor or Commissary this seems not to have been divided from the Hundred or County Court before a Mandate was given to that purpose by William the Conqueror the Exemplification of which Mandate is in Mr. Dugdale in his Appendix ad Hist. Eccles. Cathol St. Pauli f. 196. Before the Normans entrance says Mr. Dugdale from Sir H. Spelman the Bishops sate in the Hundred Court with the Lord of the Hundred as he did in the County Court with the Earls in the Sheriffs Turn with the Sheriff But to set out the matter by more Authentick Records In the Statute of Provisors it is affirmed That the Church of England was founded in the State of Prelacy by Edward the First Grand-father to Edward the Third and his Progenitors And in 25th of Henry the Eighth Chap. 19. in the Submission of the Clergy these acknowledge as they say according to Truth That the Convocation of the same Clergy is always hath been and ought to be Assembled only by the King 's Writ and farther promise in Verbo Sacerdoâ—is that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure enact promulge or exact any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or other or by whatsoever name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may to them be had to make promulge and exact the same and that his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf And it was then enacted That the King should at his pleasure assign and nominate 32 Persons of his Subjects whereof 16. to be of the Clergy and 16 of the Temporality of the upper and lower House of Parliament who should have Power and Authority to view search and examine the Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal heretofore made and with his Majesty's Assent under his Great Seal to continue such as they judge worthy to be kept and to abolish and abrogate the residue which they shall Judge and Deem worthy to be abolished It was also provided in the same Act That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrary to the King's Prerogative Royal or to the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm there the Ecclesiastical Legislation is subjected to the King And enacted That it shall be lawful for any Party grieved in any of the Courts of the Archbishops of this Realm to appeal to the King's Majesty in the Court of Chancery upon which Appeal a Commission is to be directed under the Great Seal to Persons named by the King his Heirs or Successors which Commissioners have full power to hear and finally determine upon such Appeal And here the Jurisdiction of the Church is acknowledged to be originally in the King and derived from him for there the Sovereign Supream Power lodges where the last appeal the last Resort is Add that in the first Year of Edward VI. in an Act entituled An Act for Election of Bishops it was enacted That none but the King by his Letters Patents shall collate to any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick It was also declared That the use of Archbishops and Bishops and other Spiritual Persons to make and send out Summons in their own names was contrary to the form and order of the Summons and Process of the Common Law used in this Realm seeing that All Authority of Jurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal is derived and deducted from the King's Majesty as Supream Head of these Churches and Realms of England and Ireland and so Justly acknowledged by the Clergy of the said Realms It was therefore enacted That all Courts Ecclesiastical within the said Two Realms be kept by no other Power or Authority either Foreign or within this Realm but by the Authority of the King's Majesty and that all Summons and Citations and other Process Ecclesiastical be made in the name and with the Style of the King as it is in his Writs Original and Judicial at the Common Law And it is further enacted That all manner of Persons that have the Excercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall have the King's Arms in their Seals of Office c. This Act was passed in a Parliament of the Profession of the Church of England in 1 Eward 6th and though it were repealed by one of another Character in 1 Mariae yet this repealing Statue being again repealed in 1st of Iames 1. 25. it seems plain that that of the first Year of Edward the Sixth is revived But supposing it is not yet in that case though the Constitutive part remain void the Declarative will still stand good as shewing the Common Law Nor doth the late Act of 13 Car. 2. ch 12. that restored
Bishops and they never claimed any Jurisdiction As for the Angels in the Revelation I see no Evidence in what is said tho' much is said to prove them to have been Diocesans It will not follow they were single persons because they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who would say they are compared to Stars and not to Constellations for the Truth is both these Words are used promiscuously as well for the Constellations as for the single Stars so that no stress is to be laid upon the Word that is used for either side Besides some are of the Opinion That to the making of it clear that these Angels were only single Persons and for that cause compared but to single Stars and not to Constellations sufficient Reason ought to be given why the Holy Ghost who expresly limits the Number of the Churches doth not in like manner limit the Number of the Angels belonging to them For say they when the Holy Ghost said The seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches had he intended to signifie that the Angels were but seven as the Churches were he would in like manner have said the seven Stars are the seven Angels of those seven Churches But as I am not satisfied that any great Stress should be laid in things of Moment upon such Critical Nicities so should I yield without granting that these Angels were Stars or single Persons yet I should also think it but equal to demand What Reason there is to perswade that these Stars were other than the seven President Presbyters who were Chair-men in the several Presbyteries of those seven Churches Which Churches I take to be single Congregations For I see as yet no Reason but that as a Letter intended for the Honourable House of Commons may be directed to the Speaker so these Epistles intended for the seven Churches for that they were Rev. 2. 7 11 17 c. might be superscribed for the Chief Pastor or President Presbyter who probably at that Time was stiled the Bishop by way of Appropriation In fine what if by the Name of Angel an Angel properly so called should be understood And that the Epistles intended for the Churches Pastors and People were sent to them under the Name of their Guardian Angels Should this â—e so then farewel to any Ground for Diocesan Bishops in the Directions of the Epistles to the Angels And that it should be so is very agreeable to the Prophetical Spirit in the Revelation For the Revelation goes much upon the Hypothesis and Language of Daniel and in Daniel we read of the Guardian Angels of Nations and in such a manner that what refers to the Nations or to their Governours is said of the Angels themselves Dan. 10. 13 20 21. Which is further confirmed in that it seems to have been an Hypothesis obtaining in the first Age of Christianity that the several Churches or Assemblies of Christians had their Guardian Angels for it is very probable that in Relation and Aspect unto this Hypothesis the Apostle Paul does tell Women 1 Cor. 11. 10. That they ought to have power over their heads Because of the ANGELS the Expression seems to imply That there were Angels Guardians of the Assemblies who observed the Demeanour of All and therefore they ought to be Circumspect Modest and Decent in their Behaviour and in their Fashions and Garbs out of Respect to those Guardians And indeed the former Account of the Title of Angels is a more agreeable and easie one than that which some others give who by Angel understanding a Bishop in the Modern Sense of that Word believe the Denomination given with reference to a Practice among the Jews who they say as from Diodorus attributed to their High Priest the Title of Angel But should it be yielded that the Jews had any such Practice to attribute the Title of Angel to their High-Priest what could this amount unto in our Case since every Bishop is not an High Priest in the Sense of the Jews For in their Sense there could be but one and then that one among Christians must be a Pope or a Sovereign Bishop over all the Bishops as among the Jews the High Priest was over all the Priests But in reality the Jews had no such Practice nor does the alledged Diodorus say they had to call their High Priest Angel they called him High Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was his name but indeed he adds That they had a Belief of him That he was often made a Messenger or Angel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as really he was when he had the Urim on him and this is all that Diodorus affirms Your other Argument for Diocesan Episcopacy which you ground upon the Traditional Succession of Bishops in several Sees down from the Times of the Apostles and in the Seats of the Apostles has no more of cogency in it than the former I know Tertullian l. de praescript adv Hae etieos says Precurre Ecclesias Apostolicas apud quas ipsâ— adhus Cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesidentur c. And I acknowledg the Apostles may well enough be said to have sate in Chairs and others to succeed in them if the Chairs be understood of Chairs of Doctrin in the same Sense in which the Scribes and Pharisees are said to sit in Moses's for in this Sense All those Churches were Apostolical and had Apostolical Succession which being founded upon the Doctrin of the Apostles had such persoâ—s only in any Authority over them as did continue therein But else I cannot believe my self obliged to assent that the Apostles had Chairs in Particular Churches tho' Tertullian's Words at first Sight may seem to sound that way than to believe the Story of the Cells of the 70 Translators a Story that S. Hierom not only confutes but Ridicules tho' it has this to be said for it That Iustin Martyr affirms he saw the Ruins of those very Cells and that they were in the Pharos of Alexandri Tertullian flourished but in the beginning of the third Century by which Time many Fob Traditions past Current of which Truth too many Instances are obvious in the Writings of that Father as well as of other Fathers Indeed Eusebius has given us Catalogues of the Succession of Bishops in several Churches but these Catalogues are only Conjectural and Traditionary Himself in the Proem of his Ecclesiastical History tells us of a great Chasm that was in that kind of History for the three first Centuries and that being alone and solitary in this kind of Performance he had nothing but Fragments here and there to help him from any of those who preceeded him Ay in the third Book of that History Chap. 4. he says expresly as to the Persons that succeeded the Apostles in the Government of the Churches that it is hard to tell particularly and by name who they were quorum nomina non est facile explicare per
seems evident by comparing that Text with the 24. Chapter of the same Evangelist Ver 2 14 and 24. The meaning of Mat. 1. 29. is That Ioseph did not know his Wife till she had brought forth her First-born and that it will not follow that he knew her afterward And in this sense of until I make it parallel with Mat. 28. 20. So that when Christ says He would be with his Apostles until the end of the Jewish World he is plain he would be with them so long but doth not imply by that until that he would be with them no longer Without the favour that we commonly allow to popular Expressions what is said Mat. 28. 20. will not hold in the usual sense that is given it as to the Apostles Successors and with that favour I see no strength in any Arguments against mine which carries it in the Letter unto the Apostles If the Apostles must not be understood to stand Personally and only for themselves in that Commission Mat. 28. they must be understood to stand in it Representatively for the whole Church or Body of Christian People in that same manner as they stood for them in the Istitution of the Lord's Supper when it was said to them Do this in remembrance of me these words being said to them not as they were Ministers but as Communicants Take ye eat ye take drink do this in remembrance of me For else there is no Canon of Communion for the Common People or Laity Now I pray tell me which of these Notions did the Apostles stand in when they received that Commission Mat. 28. was it given to them as they stood Personally for so many single Men or as they represented the whole Community and Body of Christians in One of these Two they must necessarily stand For the Apostles Collectively and all together as a Body are never taken but in one or the other sense they no where representing only the Ministers or Pastors so that by the Letter of the Commission which is directed to the Body of the Apostles either all Christians are impowered to Baptize and Preach which I suppose you will not say or else only the Apostles I acknowledge that Cyprian though he calls the Presbyters his Compresbyters yet never calls them his Colleagues He does not call them fellow Bishops tho he calls them fellow Presbyters because tho every Bishop was a Presbyter yet every Presbyter was not a Bishop in the appropriate sense of that word However tho he does not say of Presbyters in so many words that they are the Colleagues of a Bishop yet he comes very near it when he tells them they are Compresidents with him which he does L. 1. Ep. 3. when writing to Cornelius that was a Bishop he has this Expression Florentissimâ— CLEROTECVM PRAESIDENTI To the most flourishing Clergy that presides together with thee And in truth one must have read but little in S Cyprian to be ignorant that in his time the Presbyters or Clergy were joyned with the Bishop in Acts of Jurisdiction and that not only the Clergy but even the People too had a great share therein as well as the Bishops And this as in other matters so even in those that related unto Bishops themselves No 〈◊〉 than all this is implyed in that Expostulation of Cyprianâ— An ad hoc frater Carissime deponenda Ecclesiae Catholicae Dignitas plebs intâ—s positae fidelis atque in corrupta MAIESTAS Sacerdotalis queque AVTHORITAS ac potestas Iudicare vellâ— se dicant de Ecclesiae praeposito exâ—â—â— Ecclesiam constituti What most dear Brother is the dignity of a or the Catholick Church the faithful and uncorrupt Majesty of the People that is in it and also Auhority and Power of the Priesthood to be brought to this that such must talk of Judging concerning a Bishop of the Church who themselves are out of the Church To conclude That Alterations have been often made in the Church both as to Government and Discipline is so great and plain a truth that none that knows the History can doubt of it some of these came in early by several steps and others afterwards upon occasions that could not be foreseen Some things in the Church are Fundamental and of an Immutable nature But there are 〈◊〉 that relate to Government Discipline and Administration which depending upon the variable Circumstances of Times Places and Occasions are and must be left to Christian Prudence The Grounds I go upon in my Scheme in which I have set out the principal Alterations that have been made are owned by the Church of England as to one Instance and the Reason of that one will hold in more when in its Canons and Constitutions agreed An. Dom. 1640. Can. 1. It says The power to call and dissolve Councils both National and Provincial is the true right of all Christian Kings within their own Realms and Teritories And when in the first times of Christ's Church Prelates used this power 't was therefore only because in those days they had no Christian Kings But it is time to end your trouble and therefore I will add no more but to own my self June 8th 1690. SIR Your Humble Servant Basil in Rom. in Plat. 32. alibi Ignat. in Epist. ad Smyrn alibi Clem. Epist. ad Corinth Clem. Ep. ad Corinth Cipryan Ep. l. 3. Ep. 9. Clem â—bi supra Hierom. Com. in Ep. 1. ad Cor. Lips tract de Magist. Vet. Pop. Rom. c. 2. Clem. epist. ad Corinth Dan. Com. in August de haeres c. 53. Spotiswood Hist. b. 1. f. 4. Dan. comâ—men ad August de aeres Grâ—â— Epist. 154. ad Gall. Cyp. Ep. l. 1. ep 4. vid. ep l. 1. ep ep 3. 9. l. 4. ep 2. Cypr. Epist. l. 3. Ep. 10. Cypr. Ep. l. 1. Ep. 4. Bact Lex c. Rab. advoc 〈◊〉 Mark 5. 22. Acts 13. 15. Nil l. de Papa primatu Riensid's Conf. with Harâ— f. 230 231. Vid. Buâ—t Lexis Rab. ad voc Nidui Selden de jur uat gent. l. 4. â— 9. Theod. Motech 〈◊〉 R m. p. 61. Lud. Molin in Paraen c. 13. Vid. Cypria ep l. 3. ep 11. Loz com reip Rom. l. 1. f. 141 c. Ios. Scal. ep l. 4. ep 345. Barlaem de Papae princip c. 5. See Dr. Burnel's Abridgment of the Hist. of the Reformation B. l. f. 107. And his Hist. of the Rights of Princes Spain Glâ—ssat ad v. c. bomag Vid. Albert. Craâ—zia metrop l. 1. c. 25 30. l. 2. c. 2 19. 21. 1. 3. c. 1 5 c. 〈◊〉 schel bist 〈◊〉 l. 1. â— 20. Vid. Buat Lexie Rab. ad voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 19. 8 c. Socrat. in Proem l. 5. Hist. Ecel Nath. Bacon Histor. Disccurs Part. 1. â— 1. See Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire in the Preface Vb. Emâ— in descr reip Athen. Plut. in vit Pâ—oc