not in all the Churches of Christendom but neither approved nor known by the Primitive Church wherefore I require what you produce should be both Primitive and Universal and this to interpret some place of Scripture doubtful in it self not plain Now as to the business in hand I can't yield that the Scripture is very doubtful in it or scarce doubtful at all for though in Scripture 't is not in terminis said Presbytery and Episcopacy are both one and the same Order yet the circumstantial expressions are as I have shewed so strong and many that they are equivalent to a cleer expression in terminis Secondly this is not a matter of any indifferency but of vast and dangerous consequence if mistaken That a Church without such Bishops as you require can't be truly call'd a Church and so we shall exclude many Godly Reformed Churches For if Bishops be of such a superiour and distinct order as you pretend if the power of Ordination be inherent in them only Then where no Bishop no true Priests ordained where no Priests no Sacraments where no Sacraments no Church Wherefore I humbly beseech you be not too positive in this point lest thereby you do not only condemn all the Reformed Churches but the Scripture and St. Paul also who tells us That the Scripture is sufficient to make us wise unto Salvation both in matters of faith and works also to instruct and throughly furnish us to every good work and will any deny this of Ordination to be both a good and necessary work seeing that the powerful preaching the Word and administration of the Sacraments depend upon it Wherefore I dare not by any means suspect the Scripture defective in this weighty affair Yet to shew you our willingness to hear all things let us hear what you can tell us from Antiquity The first you bring is Epiphanius three hundred years after the Apostles from whom the main Objection is drawn against the Indentity of Order and shot as a Cannon Bell against us beyond all possible resistance but you will find it to be a meet Tennis Ball. Epiphanius making a Catalogue of Hereticks puts in Aertius for one who was an Arian and moreover held that Bishops and Priests were all of one Order and of equal Dignity and Authority and that a Presbyter had power to Ordain Confirm and in short to act any thing equal with a Bishop That he was an Heretick is apparent being an Arrian nay I shall not scruple to yeeld unto you that he was an Heretick in this his assertion concerning Episcopacy and Presbytery as we now understand them I say the Assertion contains Heresie in one part but not in every part viz. That the Bishop and other Presbyters are of equal authority and power to act this may in some sense be called Heresie for it is against Apostolical Constitution declared in Scripture therefore an Heresie and if you can shew me from Scripture as much against Identity of Order I shall brand him for an Heretick in that also but being sure there is no such thing in Scripture there can be no Heresie in affirming the Identity I fully agree with Tertullian we can make no judgment de rebus fidei nisi ex literis fidei of matters of Faith but from the writings of Faith that is the Scripture and therefore I shall never be pulled from this Pillar of Truth The Scripture is our compleat Rule of Faith no Opinion is heretical and damnable which is not against that Now Good Reader I pray take notice that Epiphanius was a very godly Bishop in the main but yet a very cholerick Man as appears in that his fierce contest with Iohn Bishop of Constantinople and his bitter expressions therein which I do not mention in disparagement of this holy Man but only to give the Reader a caution to remember that passionate Men do sometimes censure more severely than there is cause Epiphanius being a Bishop and finding the authority and dignity of Episcopacy much disparaged by Aerius being an Arrian Heretick falls upon him sharply for this his Opinion also wherein he was in part much to be condemned as I freely confest before but not in the very Point now in question nor doth Epiphanius himself condemn him in this particular as an Heretick but only in the gross to which I freely give my vote But you will tell me that a Man of a far milder temper St. Austin doth also enrol Aerius among Hereticks I know it well but I desire you to know that St. Austin doth not lay this to his charge as an Heresie for he saith only thus Aereus also was an Heretick for he fell into Arrian Heresie and he added some Opinions of his own then St. Austin recounts several of his Opinions whereof this was one That he affirmed there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter where I pray you observe St. Austin gives us the reason why he ranks him with Hereticks viz. because he fell into the Arrian Heresie then follows And he added some Opinions of his own St. Austin calls these Opinions not Heresies for he doth not say he added more Heresies of his own Secondly I pray you observe St. Austin makes no mention of his affirming the Identity of Order but only this That there was no difference at all between Bishop and Presbyter wherein I will condemn Aerius as well as you But as for the Identity of Order 't is well known that St. Austin is noted by Medina a Papist Writer and others to encline to this Opinion but for my part I think the words quoted from St. Austin do not express any Opinion one way or other to this purpose but are only a Complement to St. Hierom who was but a Prespyter yet in humility St. Austin being a Bishop acknowledges him to be his superiour in many things But I desire you to take notice of another very remarkable and most worthy passage of St. Austin who tells us plainly that we are not to read him or any other Author ever so holy or ever so learned with any obligation to submit to his or their Opinions unless they prove their Opinions by Scripture or convincing Reasons So then had Aerius been declared both by Epiphanius and St. Austin also to have been an Heretick in this very particular of Identity of Order yet they bringing neither Scripture nor any reason at all but meerly a bare narrative of Aerius and his Opinions not so much as calling his Opinion in this particular Heresie much less offering proofs for it by St. Austin's rule we may with great civility to them and great confidence in the truth still affirm the Identity of Order But how will I answer that Objection taken out of St. Hierom who say you was as great a leveller of Bishops with Priests as any and therefore whatever comes from him you may be sure is extracted from him by the powerfulness of undeniable truth yet he confesses that
Cure and then present them to such as are appointed to License them In the first place I humbly conceive it will be necessary to add unto the Catechism a short and plain Paraphrase upon every sentence in the Creed the Lords Prayer and Ten Commandments and particularly to explain every unusual hard word therein For those general Questions at the end of them do not so sufficiently open the understandings of the weaker or duller Youth as that they know how to apply those generals to each particular sentence but many Youths who can most readily say the Catechism to a little yet understand many words no more than if they were Greek and scarce are able to give you the meaning of any Sentence in their own words And although they have all perfectly by heart as we say yet have very little in their heads and understandings and so a Parrot may be well nigh as capable of the Lords Supper as some of those In the next place I must tell you That I fear as much Ministers of the best parts as those of the meanest for this necessary work of Catechizing lest both have the same effect though they act extreamly different the one talking non-sence the other above common sence both of them confounding the brains of the poor Youths who understand neither of them I have heard some Learned Ministers call the Youth together ask a few Catechism-questions which the Boys answering readily are commended and dismissed And then begins this learned Man a profound Lecture shaped according to his own large dimensions at which both Boys and Men also for the most part gaze as at a prodigious Monster of Learning and perchance some of them say to themselves the same that Festus said to St. Paul The Man is besides himself much Learning hath made him mad Sure he doth not know where he is not in an University-School of Divinity but in an Assembly of weak and silly Youth who must be fed with milk and are not capable of strong meat where it were better for him with St. Paut to speak five words with his understanding that by his voice he may teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue or in such English as they understand no more than an unknown tongue I humbly beseech these Men to attend to the Form and Phrase of the Gospel and mark what kind of matter and language the Divine Oracle used in Preaching it even to the learned Scribes and Pharisees and to learn of him who was lowly in heart and came not to seek his own glory but the glory of Him that sent him I desire them also to read the latter end of the first Chapter of 1 Cor. and the beginning of the second and learn from thence to speak the Wisdom of God in the weak and foolish way of Preaching to instruct and gain the weak and foolish yet wise unto God Really no Man that hath not made some experience can believe how strangely weak and dull thousands both of boyes and men also are in apprehending spiritual matters so that a man had need to study much how to fit their weak heads with a sutable discourse and hath as much need of great patience also to repeat every thing again and again and even beat it into their heads I have observed that Plato's manner of many short and plain questions and answers to effect much and likewise familiar similitudes from things within their own occupation and knowledge And now to encourage them to this toilsome work I beseech them to consider that the Souls of these weak simple ones cost our Saviour as dear as those of the Philosophers and therefore are as dear to him yea it seems dearer seeing St. Paul tells us in the place before cited that he calls more of them to Salvation and therefore they ought to be as dear to our Saviours Ministers and to be chiefly called and sought by them and then they shall be sure to have their reward from this our lowly Saviour In the last place I conceive it necessary to consider what course may be taken to bring all to Catechising for I have heard some Pious Ministers much complain that they have used their utmost endeavours yet cannot effect it and it can never be expected that many of the Youth will come unless compelled by Parents and Masters of whom many are so careless many so covetous as they think every hour lost which is not spent on their worldly affairs so that the Parents and Masters need compulsion as well as their Children and Servants And considering how this necessary work of Catechising hath been neglected for many years past it is much to be feared that the aged need it as much as the youth But would Parents and Masters well consider the great advantages that would accrue to them even in their worldly concerns they would be very zealous to come themselves and both see and hear their youth Catechized and bred up in Piety and Godliness the want whereof hath bred that great undutifulness in children that sloth and falseness of servants which we sadly behold in this degenerated age And let me mention once again the strict account Parents and Masters must give to God for so great neglect to those committed to their charge Wherefore unless some fitter expedient can be found I humbly conceive it would have some effect if such careless Parents and Masters were not admitted themselves to the Holy Communion who were faulty in this kind for though many of them are not very zealous of the Holy Communion and could easily pass it by yet for reputation sake they would not easily incur the being rejected and doubtless many of them would be moved thereby and the example of some would be followed by others and so by degrees the number would encrease and when Catechizing by this means begins to grow in fashion it would quickly be taken up by all God be merciful to us that Religion in many is chiefly for fashion sake yet I hope by Gods assisting grace Religion begining though but in fashion would end at last in true Devotion at least in many if not in all However it is good that God should publickly be glorified the publick would sdeed the better for it though the private hypocrites suffer punishment in the end God in his mercy turn their hearts that they may escape Of Church Government MY last particular which remains yet to be handled is that of the Authority of Bishops to govern as well as to ordain And in the first place who can but wonder to see men so zealous in assuming to themselves the sole power of Ordination so much neglect and even wholly abandon the power of the Keys that of Excommunication so high and so dreadful which though by great abuse in latter times is made very contemptible yet in the original institution and Primitive practice was very terrible A power to deliver men over unto Satan that Prince
Bishops have the authority of Ordination more than Presbyters A Man may smile to see this used as an Argument for the preheminency of Bishops which is directly against it for St. Hierom having discourst of the equality and Identity of Presbyters and Bishops and having brought many Arguments from Scripture to prove that Bishop and Presbyter was only two names for one and the same Office for a further confirmation hereof asks this question I pray what doth a Bishop do more than a Presbyter except Ordination plainly intimating thereby that this could make no such distinction of eminency in them above Presbyters I beseech you consider Do not Presbyters perform Offices of a higher nature than Ordination Presbyters are ordained Embassadors for Christ to preach his Holy Gospel for the Salvation of Souls they are under Christ Mediators between God and the People to make intercession for them they administer the Sacrament of Baptism wherein the Children of Warth are regenerated and made the Children of God and Heirs of eternal Life yea they administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper also the most transcendent act of Religion and Christian Dignity whereby we are made partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ And what doth a Bishop more than these except Ordination which being no Sacrament sure is inferiour in dignity to the other mentioned Acts and therefore cannot elevate them to a higher degree Judge now I beseech you whether this question makes pro or con Are not such questions always tending to disparagement When any Man is boasting his Power and Authority should I come and ask What can you do more than others unless it be in this or that poor business not worth speaking of would he not take this as an affront Wherefore it cannot enter into my head that St. Hierom intended by this Question to express any superiour Order above the Priesthood but plainly the contrary v z. That Bishops having no other power distinct from Priests but Ordination this could be no Argument for a distinct and superior Order And now I desire my Reader if he understand Latin to view the Epistle of St. Hierom to Evagrius and doubtless he will wonder to see Men have the confidence to quote any thing out of it for the distinction between Episcopacy and Presbytery for the whole Epistle is to shew the Identity of them Before I chanced to read this Epistle I was of the crroneous Opinion that Bishops were a distinct Order but so convinc'd by this Epistle as I was forced to submit to a change And I farther desire my Reader to observe the various fate of St. Hierom and Aerius Aerius is reviled as an Heretick for affirming this Identity of Order Hierom passes for a Saint and a great Doctor of the Church though he affirms the very same as fully as Aerius or any Man can do and therefore it may be my fate to be reviled as Aerius was but our Saviour bids us rejoyce and be exceeding glad when we are reviled for his Names sake or for his Words sake sure all is one for great is our Reward and so I proceed But there lies yet a great Objection made by our good Bishop Hall he tells us how that Collutbus a Presbyter of Alexandria took upon him to ordain others and that afterwards in a Council of a hundred Bishops in Aegypt their Ordination was declared null because ordained by a Presbyter From this and some other such Instances the Bishop would prove that the Order of Presbyters is not capable to ordain therefore Bishops are a distinct Order I am sorry so good a Man had no better a proof for his intended purpose It seems he quite forgot how that the famous Council of Nice consisting of above three hundred made a Canon wherein they declare That if any Bishop should ordain any of the Clergy belonging to another Bishop's Diocess without consent and leave had of that Bishop to whose Diocess they did belong their Ordination should be null You see then the irregular Ordination of a Bishop is as null as the irregular Ordination of a Presbyter therefore the irregular Bishop and the irregular Presbyter are of the same Order of the same Authority neither able to Ordain Is it not most evident by this that 't is not their Order but Commission that makes them capable to Ordain sure an irregular Bishop is of the same Order with the regular Is the Line of his Diocess like a Conjurers Circle within it he is a Bishop without it he is none No but within it he hath Commission given him to Ordain without it no Commission no nor to act in his own Diocess beyond his Commission which is to ordain only the Clergy of his own Diocess and within his own Diocess Can any thing be plainer Cellutbus then being but a Presbyter and under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria his taking upon him to ordain Presbyters was highly irregular and insolent and therefore most justly declared null I desire the Papistical School-Divines with their manifold indelible Characters to observe here how easily the Councils dasht out the indelible Character of Presbyter imprinted on the Souls of these Men irregularly ordained they made a clear rasure not one tittle of it left And could they so easily cancel the Gift of the Holy Ghost I leave my Schoolmen to find out how this rare feat was done And I proceed to add a Canon taken from a Council at Antioch concerning Chorepiscopi much to our purpose When the Apostles had settled Bishops in every City with authority of ordaining and governing the several Churches or Congregations within the Circuits of those Cities some were very large and therefore in process of time when more were converted to the Faith and the Congregations encreased more in number and at greater distance than the Bishop himself could well have the overfight of the Bishop chose some principal Men for his assistance and dividing his great Circuit into several lesser Circuits placed these Men as Overseers under him and these were called Chorepiscopi that is Country Bishops and were much after the manner of our Rural Deans Those Chorepiscopi Country Bishops being thus setled in authority to govern the Pastoral Priests in their Circuits took upon them to ordain more Priests when occasion required which the chief Bishops took very ill at their hands as a great lessening to their Supream Authority And to prevent it for the future a Canon was made in the Council of Antioch about the year 340. to forbid these Country Bishops to ordain any Priests Now I pray you observe These Chorepiscopi were either really ordained in the Order of the Chief Bishop or not if they were as full Bishops as he as really they were why might they not ordain Priests as well as he The Chief Bishop answers Because he gave them no Commission Whereby you see that the power of ordaining Priests was annexed no more to Bishops than to Priests
unless the Bishops received a new Commission to ordain as well as a new Ordination If it be answered That these Chorepiscopi were meer Priests sent forth to have inspection only over other Priests Then I pray observe that these Chorepiscopi being meer Priests took upon them to ordain other Priests which certainly had been madness for them to do had they then such a Belief of Bishops as is now required They might as well have undertaken to create Stars in the Heavens For if Bishops only have received a Divine power from Christ and his Apostles to ordain Priests he that hath not this divine power of Ordination can no more ordain a Priest than a Man without the divine power of Creation can create a Star both are impossible in nature from whence it must follow that these Country Bishops were directly mad in undertaking to ordain Priests having received no such divine power from Christ his Apostles or their Successors But if we take these Country Bishops for sober Godly Persons in their right witts as doubtless they were being selected for that Office they must needs believe that being Priests alone they had power to ordain other Priests and also believed that the Bishops having made them Overseers and Governors in their little Circuits they had also received thereby Commission to ordain as well as to govern and were as little Bishops under an Arch-Bishop for such really they were so that I can't in charity censure them so much as of contumacy in taking upon them more then they thought at least they had Commission to act I doubt not but the chief Bishop would be wary enough not to employ any contumacious persons I conclude then first That it was only a meer mistake an easie and pardonable mistake of their Commission Secondly That in those Times it was not thought an impossible thing for bare Priests no Bishops to ordain other Priests for then certainly they would never have undertaken it And I confess my self of their opinion and can't but so continue till I see more reason to the contrary And I hope my Reader will see what weak proofs are brought for this distinction and superiority of Order no Scripture no Primitive General Council no general consent of Primitive Doctors and Fathers no not one Primitive Father of Note speaking particularly and home to our purpose Only a touch of Epiphanius and St. Austin upon Aerius the Arrian Heretick but not declared no not by them an Heretick in this particular of Episcopacy so that I my self declare more particularly against him then these Fathers do accusing him of Heresie in part of his affirmation concerning Bishops though not in every part I shall conclude this business by giving my poor Judgment drawn from the preceeding Arguments I find in Scripture that the Priesthood is a holy Order into which no man is to thrust himself unless he be called I do not find that Deaconship hath an inferiour part in it or Episcopacy above it but that it is compleat and entire in it self and that it may involve many administrrtions in one and the same Order and sometimes many in one and the same person St. Iohn was an Apostle an Evangelist a Prophet a Pastor a Teacher an Ordainer which we call Bishop all these Gifts he had by one and the same Spirit and in one and the same Priesthood Christ himself was of this Order a Priest for ever after the Order of Melcbisedek that is both King and Priest these were his Offices he is called also the Bishop of our Souls Was this in Christ a distinct and superiour Office or Order to his Priesthood who will presume to affirm this And Christ told his Apostles As my Father sent me so send I you Christ therefore made them also Kings and Priests as St. Iohn tells us Rev. 1. Our Saviour's Kingdom was not of this World no more was that of the Apostles Our Saviour's Office of Priest and Bishop was one and the same so was that of the Apostles and they Ordained and sent others as Christ. Ordained and sent them there was no distinction or diversity of Order in Christ and his Apostles no more was there in those who were Ordained and sent by the Apostles though there might be diversity of Gifts or Administrations all were not Evangelists nor Prophets some had the gift of Tongues some of Prophesie some of Miracles some of discerning Spirits and some such Gift I conceive they might have whom the Apostles constituted superintendent Overseers Bishops over the rest endued especially with the Gift of Discerning and Judging of Men and therefore fit to be intrusted with the Ordaining of others for which there needed no new Order but the enlargement only of their Commission to Ordain to oversee and govern those that were Ordained And these as I said before being setled in this eminent manner over the rest were call'd by that name in Greek which signifies as much and which we in English call Bishop and by degrees this name was wholly appropriate to them In this order the Apostles left the Church at their death and in this order their Successors continued it as in duty sure they ought from time to time near one thousand five hundred years without any interruption Wherefore for any to alter this way of Government or to take upon them to Ordain not being chosen this way to it they would be guilty of great rashness and high presumption and I thank God I am as zealous for the preserving this Primitive way as any Man Yet I cannot by any means consent to them who would have Episcopacy to be a distinct Order for the Reasons before given nor can I think the Ordination of a Priest made by Priests invalid for though it ought not be done but only of necessity yet being done 't is valid and certainly may without any crime be done by any Priest by shipwrak or any such chance cast into a Country where there were none Commissionated to Ordain in such a case he might and ought to Ordain other fit Persons for the Service of God and Preaching of the Gospel For who can doubt but that the Substance is to be preferred before Ceremony And as St. Paul approved of the Preaching of Christ out of envy rather than no Preaching so doubtless to Ordain out of order is better than no Ordination and the Church of Christ be deprived of Preaching Praying and Administring the Sacraments and all other Pastoral Duties so great necessity may well excuse any irregularity Yet where Order can possibly be observed it ought to be for God is the God of Order Wherefore he that wilfully transgresses against Order transgresses against God and shall receive to himself damnation for if to resist the Ordinance of Man only in humane and temporal things be damnation much more is it to resist an Apostolick Ordinance in things Spiritual and Divine Concerning Deacons HAving thus stated and united the two pretended distinct
I am confident the Arrian Heresie had soon expired but by continual disputation the heat of Passion was raised and the matter pursued with far more violence which at length grew into rancour and malice irreconcileable For some Godly Bishops I humbly conceive more zealous than discreet would not rest satisfied unless the Arrians were forced either to subscribe to the new word Homoousian or to quit their Livings and this caused that great Persecution against the Orthodox where the Arrians prevailed whereas by silence imposed on all parties the malice rancour persecution warr all had been prevented and the Truth spoken in love would at length most probably have prevailed For was not the Gospel at first planted this way preaching and praying men to receive it by this way of weakness it preÌ„vailed for the weak things of God are stronger then men But when men will be wiser then God and in their foolish wisdome think it fit to adde their strength to Gods weakness as a speedier and surer way to establish the Truth God to convince them of their folly suffers that strong man the Enemy of the Gospel whom none but his Almighty Arm can bind and master to come and sow his tares of division which soon over-runs the good seed of the Church and brings all to confusion But what then would I have all heretical Opinions broach'd and spread abroad without any controul Are not Princes and Magistrates to be Nursing Fathers unto the Church must they not adde the Power of the Sword to that of the Word Not hold the Sword in vain but for the punishment of evil Doers c All this I grant and desire as much as any man that both Prince and Pastor would hold fast the Faith once delivered to the Saints fully declared and contained in Scripture let them suffer no new Doctrine to be set on foot certainly superfluous the Scripture being allsufficient and probably dangerous as being of Man and not of God who having given us a compleat Rule of Faith and Life by his Prophets Apostles and his only Son we have no reason to believe any New Doctrine proceeds from him therefore St. Paul is very bold and cryeth out If an Angel from Heaven Preach unto you any other Gospel than is already preached let him be accursed The Magistrate then is to countenance and protect the Pastor preaching the Gospel of Christ to silence oppose punish all that Preach any thing contrary or not cleerly contained in the Gospel Heresies never at first appear in their own natural shape but disguised with specious pretences drawn from some obscure places of Scripture capable of various Interpretations and thus having gotten footing by degrees they lay aside their Disguises and march on bare-fac'd Therefore both Pastor and Magistrate ought to be very watchfull and oppose all beginnings ever so specious as dangerous or at least superfluous as I said Let the Pastors at first endeavour by plain and sound Doctrine to stop the mouths of Gainsayers but if these turbulent spirits will not be stop't neither by Admonitions nor Entreaties then let the Pastors proceed to the Power of the Keyes which were it used with that Gravity and Severity as it was in the Primitive times would have great effect that is were it used in a solemn Assembly by the Reverend Bishop and his Clergy not by Lay-Chancellours and their Surrogates and the person excommunicated and shut out of the Church were likewise excluded from all Conversation and Commerce every one shunning his company as a person infected with the Plague so it was of old and so it ought to be now and so it would be now if men made any Conscience of their wayes this I am confident would reduce many a one But if after this any persevere in their perversness then the Magistrate may doubtless by his Power used with Christian moderation endeavour to stop the spreadâ—â—g of the Contagion and do what in wisdom he thinks meet to preserve the purity and peace of Church and State urging against them that Scripture Hast thou Faith have it to thy self before God Rom. 14. 22. Or that Give none offence neither to the Iew nor to the Gentile nor to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10. 32. Or that Gal. 5. 12. I would they were even cut off that trouble you St. Paul was not here in jeast but in great earnest as appears by his continued fervency all along this Epistle and doubtless he means not here a cutting off from the Church by way of Excommunication for that was in his power to do why then should he wish it nay they had cut themselves off from the Church before certainly then he means a cutting off by the Civil Power which then was Heathen and therefore St. Paul would not have it made use of by Christians for he would not allow them to appeal to unbelieving Magistrates no not in Civil things 1 Cor. 6. much less in Spiritual things Wherefore when St. Paul wishes they were cut off he wishes there were a fitting Power that is a Christian Magistrate to punish or banish those that trouble the Church of Christ with Doctrines apparently contrary to the cleer Text and such as are destructive to Christianity I dare go no farther But as for those who keep their erroneous Opinions to themselves who neither publish nor practise any thing to the disturbance of the Church or State but onely refuse to conform to the Churches established Doctrine or Discipline pardon me if I say that really I cannot find any warrant or so much as any hint from the Gospel to use any Force to compell them and from Reason sure there is no Motive to use Force because as I shewed before Force can't make a man believe your Doctrine but onely as an Hypocrite Profess what he believes not I know full well there is a common Objection against this taken from St. Austin who was long of my Opinion but seems to be altered on this occasion Some Hereticks Donatists came to him in his latter dayes and gave thanks that the Civil Power was made use of to restrain them confessing that was the Means which brought them to consider more calmly their own former extravagant Opinions and so brought them home to the true Church This Objection is easily answered First the Donatists are well known to have been a Sect not only erroneous in Judgment but very turbulent in Behaviour alwayes in seditious practices and in that case I shew'd before how the Civil Magistrate may proceed to Punishment but our case is not in repressing seditious practises but enforceing a. Confession of Faith quite of another nature Then secondly to answer more particularly this story I suppose there is no man such a stranger to the world as to be ignorant that there are Hypocrites in it and such for ought we know these seeming converted Donatists might be who for love of this World more than for love of the Truth forsook their
and actually Priests and Bishops As for that answer That though but one Order was conferred viz. Episcopal yet that being superior to the Priesthood contains this virtually in it first you are to prove Bishop to be superior to Presbiter which I deny the Apostles being peculiarly called Presbyters Secondly that one contains the other I suppose is already confuted and fully declar'd that it cannot be And as I mentioned before you do in effect confess it your selves by your practice for if the Superiour Order so contains the inferiour as to enable a Man thereby to act all things belonging to the inferiour it is a very impertinent thing to ordain a Man as you do first a Deacon then a Priest then a Bishop when you design to confer all upon him in the same day and hour And now I pray give me leave to examine a little Petavius his rare conceits which he conceives will satisfy all former objections and will meet with no news ones He confesses the Presbyters of the Apostles times were all of one Order viz. Bishops because the Pastors of each congregations might perform those several acts he mentions which a bare Presbyter is not capable of And why not capable of them how doth he prove this he brings not one tittle of proof for this cut of Scripture where there are good proofs to the contrary St. Peter and St. Iohn Presbyters could do all these and more Ergo Presbyters are capable of all But saith he The Apostles were Bishops also also is impertinent as signifying somewhat else whereas I say and prove 't is one and the same Order only another name it lyes upon him to prove this difference of Orders and how doth he prove it because Presbyters can't do the acts of a Bishop why this is the thing in question and thus he runs round to prove this by that and that by this and not one tittle out of Scripture for either I know full well by several Canons of Councils made some at one time some at another the Bishops reserved many things to themselves whereof most of them had been practised formerly by Presbyters and the Canons were made to prevent the like for the future for had there not been such a pactice there had been no need of such Canons whereby they reserved these things unto themselves and for their own greatness would needs perswade the World that Presbyters were not capable of them I grant that for decency and order in that sence some things may be reserved to some other things to other to perform but that the Order of Priesthood was not capable is even ridiculous that the Priesthood being capable to do the greatest things should not be capable to do the least he can consecrate the Souls of Men by Baptism and the Lords Supper yet for sooth can't consecrate their Oyl and their Cups and their Candlestiks which we never heard the Apostles did or dream'd of but are the fond dreams of doting Men just like the Pharisees washing cups and platters after the doctrines of Men. Really there needs no better confutation of their distinction and superiority of Episcopal Order then the mean ridiculous things which they ascribe unto their Bishops and debar Presbyters of which my thinks a Presbyter should contemn were they offered him and therefore such Arguments as these are not worth the small pains I have taken about them I proceed to somewhat that seems a little better Petavius tells us That the number of Christians encreasing and factions arising in the Church the Apostles at length towards the end of their times chose out of these Presbyter-Bishops some chief Men and placed them as Governors over the rest and reserved unto these principal Men the power of ordaining thus far I freely consent the Scripture declares it and it seems most Rational And I humbly conceive these Governors and Ordainers were Men of great prudence and moderation and probably had also that gift of the Holy Ghost The discerning of spirits and judging of Men a gift mentioned in Scripture among others that none might be admitted into the Priesthood but Men of meek and peaceable spirits But now I would ask Petavius when these Governing Ordaining Bishops were set over the rest of the Presbyter-Bishops when Titus was first settled with this Authority in Creete and when Timothy was thus placed at Ephesus where we find before were several Presbyter-Bishops what became of them were they un-Bishop'd and made simple Presbyters they must no more ordain nor govern but be subject to Timothy and Titus I am sure it was thought no small punishment in future Ages when Bishops were thus by decrees of Councel abased and cast down unto the Presbyter form and it was for some notorious crimes I pray what crime were all these Presbyter-Bishops guilty of to be thus handled and tumbled down into a lower form Truly Petavius deals hardly with them unless he can shew us their crime Or will he instead of accusing them excuse himself and say they were not un-Bishopt nor abased but only restrained from exercising that power their order was capable of had they been commissioned thereto Truly I must commend Petavius if he will thus ingeniously confess the truth for I shall by and by fully declare that 't is the diversity of Commission and not of Order that enables Men to act diversly and that a Bishop without commission can do no more than a Presbyter without commission and therefore I farâ—her begg of Petavius that till he can prove the contrary he would confess them also to be all of one single Order called only by divers names Priest or Bishop and one chosen out of the number not the rest abased but he exalted with authority to Govern This is the rational and common practice of all Societies Corporations Colledges Monasteries Conclave of Cardinals what not There is no new Order supposed in any of these but only a new Election and a new Authority given according to the fundamental constitution of each Society The Pope himself with his triple crown and triple dominion over all Patriarchs Arch-Bishops Bishops pretends to have no new order of Popeship but only the new Authority conferred by his Election why then may not Presbyters chosen to preside over the rest without any new Order do the like And for this very reason I conceive Iustin Martyr uses the name of President always for Bishop and St. Cyprian also a Bishop himself and most glorious Martyr he calls himself and other Bishops generally by the name of Praepositus as if this were the main distinction betwixt himself and his Presbyters that he was Praepositus only one of them placed with authority over them no more Nor doth the name of Bishop in the original Greek signify any more then an Overseer of the rest And as for the avoiding of Heresies and Factions they thought it meet to settle some Bishop of great soundness in faith and godliness of life with authority to
of darkness to take full possession of their Souls and sometimes of their Bodies also both being sentenced thereby to the everlasting flames of Hell and likewise a power to release penitent souls from the chains of darkness and slavery of the Devil and restore them to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God whereby they are made Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven If there be any thing under Heaven fit to stir up the Ambition of mortal men yea an ambition in Angels themselves sure this is it Who can forgive sins but God alone said the Iews to our Saviour Christ swelling with indignation against him for this though they had seen many divine Miracles wrought by him yet this is so peculiar so transcendent a divine act as not to be offered at by any but the great God Iehovah himself But blessed for ever be this great and gracious God who by his eternal Son Christ Jesus hath given this power unto men As his heavenly Father sent him with this power so sent he his Apostles with this power saying unto them Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Wherefore if there be any thing in the Office of a Bishop to be stood upon and challenged peculiar to themselves certainly it should be this yet this is in a manner quite relinquished unto their Chancellors Lay-men who have no more capacity to sentence or absolve a sinner then to dissolve the heavens and earth and make a new heaven and a new earth and this pretended power of Chancellors is sometimes purchased with a sum of Money their Money perish with them Good God! what a horrid abuse is this of the Divine Authority But this notorious transgression is excused as they think by this that a Minister called the Bishops surrogat but is indeed the Chancellors servant chosen call'd and placed there by him to be his Cryer in the Court no better that when he hath examined heard and sentenced the Cause then the Minister forsooth pronounces the sentence Just as a Rector of a Parish Church should exclude any of his Congregation and lock him out of the Church then comes the Clerk shews and gingles the Keys that all may take notice that he is excluded And by this his authority the Chancellor takes upon him to sentence not only Lay-men but Clergy men also brought into his Court for any delinquency and in the Court of the Arches there they sentence even Bishops themselves This is a common practise in later ages but in St. Ambrose his time so great a wonder as with amazement cryeth out against the Emperour Valentinian when he took upon him to judge in such cases saying When was it ever heard of since the beginning of the World that Lay-men should judge of spirituals he means in spiritual things not in temporal things which by the laws of God and man belongs to the Lay-Magistrate This was that Ambrose of whom the other great Emperour as Good as Great Theodosius Father to this Valeninian affirmed Ambrose onely knew how to act the Bishop and with all Christian humility this great Emperour submitted to the sentence of this godly Bishop denying him entrance into the Church for the cruelty acted by his Souldiers at Thessilonica by his command and upon his great repentance and pennance performed six months together and after publique confession in the Church was again absolved and joyfully received into the Church Oh my Great and Reverend Fathers of the Church the Bishops whom Christ hath cleaved to his high dignity whom he hath made Kings and Princes whom he hath called to sit with him on his Throne there to give sentence of eternal life or eternal death can you so tamely part with this prime flower of your Crown yea the very Apex of it and suffer the Lay-members of the Church to usurp this divine authority Or how can you answer it to the chief Bishop of our Souls if any one Soul by the ill management of the Chancellors should certainly perish shall not his blood be required at your hands But perchance some of you will answer 'T is no fault of yours but of your predecessors who gave such Patents unto them as by vertue thereof they exercise this power will ye nill ye 'T is too true and I remember when the Bishop of Wells hearing of a cause corruptly mannaged and coming into the Court to rectifie it the Chancellor Dr. Duke fair and mannerly bad him be gon for he had no power there to act any thing and there with all pulls out his Patent sealed by the Bishops Predecessor which like Perseus shield with the Gorgons head frighted the poor Bishop out of the Court Where are you Parliament men you great Sons of the Church so zealous for Episcopal Government yet suffer this principal part of it to be thus alienated and usurped by Lay-men If an unordained person take upon him to pray or preach with what outeries and severe Laws and with great reason also you fall upon him but if an unordained person take upon him to judge sentence and excommunicate Bishops themselves you calmly pass it over take no notice of it You will answer me The Bishops themselves pass it over yea and pass it away from themselves and their successors for to gratifie their kinsmen or their friends or perchance for worse why then should you stir in it Truly in this you have reason and the balme most wholly light on them who do not use all possible endeavour and implore your assistance also to rectifie this great abuse which subverts the main Pillar of the Church Government this is no Ceremonial matter but the very substance of it they strain at Gnats and swallow Camels For Chancellors to intermeddle in Probats of Wills payment of Tythes or any other temporal matters there is no scripture nor reason to condemn but rather to condemn Bishops should they interpose in such matters for which they have no commission from Scripture but rather a prohibition from that saying of our Svaiovr Man who made me a judge or a divider over you but then it will be necessary that Chancellors have also power of Temporal punishments and not prophane that high and holy power in sordid earthly things certainly a greater prophanation than to convert a Church into a Chandlers Shop the Church is a bulk of earthly materials and holy only by dedication the power of its Keys is in its own nature and original constitution spiritual and divine If Uzza being no Levite suffered death for laying hold on the Sacred Ark of God to support and hold it up what shall he suffer who being no consecrated person layes hold on the sacred authority of Gnd to pull it down from heaven to earth Let them consider But let not the Civilians for this account me an Enemy to their Profession which no man honours more and I heartily wish much more of our Civil matters were
commited to their management and judicature The Civil Law is that whereby most of the civilized World is govern'd and if we will have commerce with them 't is fit we should have able Civilians to deal with them which will never be unelss they have profitable and honourabl places to encourage them for it all that I beg of them is that they would contain themselves within their own Sphear of activity and not intrude into spiritual and sacred matters committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Priesthood And so I beg of Priests that they would not intermeddle in Lay and Temporol officer In the time of Popery when Spiritual and Temporal affairs were all intermingled and horribly confounded as the Pope took upon him Secular and Imperial authority directly contrary to the Word and Constitutions of Christ so the Bishops and Priests under him intermeddled in all Secular Affairs and offices and in this Nation Bishops were frequently Lord Keepers Treasurers Chief Justices Vice-Royes what not which is strangely un-Apostolical and unlawful their vocation being wholly Spiritual as Men chosen out of the World should have no more to do with it than of meer necessity for food and rayment Wherefore to take upon them any Lay-Office which must needs take them off much from the Ministry of the Word and Prayer is doubtless very sinful For Acts 6. we find the Apostles gave themselves continually to these and would not endure to have these interrupted by that charitable Office of taking care for the Poor certainly then they would have much less endured yea abominated to be taken off by temporal and worldly Offices And on this occasion let me speak a word to those of the inferiour Clergy who take upon them to study and practice Physick for hire this must needs be likewise sinful as taking them off from their spiritual employment had they studied Physick before they entered Holy Orders and would after make use of their skill among their poor Neighbours out of charity this were commendable but being entered on a spiritual and pastoral Charge which requires the whole man and more to spend their time in this or any other study not spiritual is contrary to their vocation and consequently sinful and to do it for gain is sordid and unworthy their high and holy Calling But Necessitas cogit ad turpia the maintenance of many Ministers is so small as it forces them even for food and rayment to seek it by other Employment which may in some measure excuse them but mightily condemn those who should provide better for them Whether this belongs not to King and Parliament I must humbly beseech them in Christs name seriously to consider I crave pardon for this I hope useful Digression and return to the Business of Excommunication This Sacred Authority of Excommunication being committed by Christ to the Apostles by them to their Successors was used in weighty and very scandalous matters very few examples of it in Scripture The incestuous Corinthian Hymenus and Alexander scarce another clearly exprest The Apostles being fully guided by the Holy Ghost in all things did exercise this power singly themselves but the succeeding Bishops having not the Spirit of that full measure used the assistance of the principal Clergy in their Diocess that the act might be more solemn and authentick the person excommunicated if he conceived the act injurious appealed to one or more neighbouring Bishops who assembled together and discussing the matter either confirmed or reversed the Act as they found cause And sometimes the matter proceeded so far as to cause an Assembly of the whole Province But each Bishop or Praepositus as St. Cyprian calls him and declares that he was absolute in his own Diocess to exercise his power and none condemned for using it but only for abusing it contrary to reason and conscience there were the only rules they proceeded by at first Afterwards when Bishops on this or other occasions met in Assemblies Provincial or General they made it divers Canons which passed for Rules and Laws to govern the Church by which doubtless are very good helps to bridle the extravagant passions of particular Men very apt in this corrupt age to prevaricate yet I cannot conceive them so far oblidging but new emergent circumstances may justly cause new and different Decrees yet so as every particular Bishop is oblidged for peace sake to submit to or at least to acquiesce in the General Decree of that Nation where he lives I said They are not bound entirely to submit to the Decrees of former Councils either Provincial or General because as I have shewed before all their Decrees are humane not Divine and all humane Ecclesiastical Laws are alterable according to the time and occasions by other General Councils As to the bounds of each Bishops Diocess they were occasioned several wayes The Apostles for the better spreading of the Gospel Preach't it first in the principal Cities which generally had great influence upon the adjacent parts by reason that the occasions of most call them thither and in these Cities they settled the chief Pastors of the Church with power to ordain Presbyters and Pastors in other lesser Cities and Towns round about as the Congregations of the Faithful encreased and all those Churches that were erected and Pastors establish't in them by these Apostolick Men in the chief Cities I humbly conceive in reverence of their worth and Apostolick authority were freely observant and subject to them which afterwards out of custom grew into a kind of right challenged by their successors Sometimes the authority of the Pastor or Bishop of a City was enlarged according to the temporal authority of the same it being the Metropolitan of this or that Countrey for so we find in the Council of Nice and other Councils the chiefest and largest authority given to the Bishop of old Rome because it was the first Imperial City to Constantinople as the second Imperial City to Alexandria as the chief City of that part of Africa to Antioch Ierusalem Ephesus Corinth Phillipi c. where you see that though Ierusalem were the first City from whence the Gospel issued forth Antioch the second City where the Gospel was planted and where the Faithful were first called Christians yet Rome Constantinople and Alexandria were preferred before them and had far larger Jurisdiction so that it is a meer humane temporal matter and Men have no farther obligation to it in conscience than for Peace sake and Order which in like manner obliges every Man to be subject to all Magistrates within their respective Jurisdictions There are yet two things more to be considered in this business First Where the Apostles first planted the Gospel in Cities with authority over the adjacent part it was in rich populous Countries where Cities were much nearer together than in these Northen parts and the circuit of each City was much less in compass so that the Bishop might well have the inspection
into all and understand the behaviour of each Pastor under him to admonish and chastise when there was cause Whereas with us partly by great distance of Cities partly by the favour of former Princes several Towns being cast into one Diocess they became so large as 't is impossible any one Bishop should have a sufficient inspection into them As I said before of great Parishes so here of Diocesses the Bishop knows not the names nor faces of half or a quarter of them much less their behaviour he may have as well a part of France in his Diocess to govern And as for their Triennial and Circuity Visitations they signifie just nothing as to this 't is a meer money business to pay procurations to the Bishop fees to Chancellors Registers c. the Bishop indeed usually makes a Speech unto them and a Sermon is preach't by some one of them wherein perchance good Admonitions are given but what knowledge can the Bishop by this have of their lives or doctrine or diligence If he continue long there he may learn a few more names or faces scarce any thing more I humbly conceive this ought to be redressed and the Diocess bronght into that compass that each Bishop may be a Bishop in Government as well as in Title and Authority over them But if the Diocesses be divided less and Bishops more encreased where shall we have maintenance for so many Bishops some having too little already When ever I shall see the Clergy of this Nation Congregated by his Majesties Authority resolved in good earnest to reform and establish all according to the holy Constitutions of the Primitive Times and come to this last mentioned contracting the bonds and in number encreasing the Diocesses and Bishops for them I 'le undertake to propose wayes both rational and conscientious of providing convenient maintenanee for all but I desire to be excused at present least greedy Harpies make ill use of my zealous intentions And so I proceed to consider a second abuse in Church Government which is Exempt Jurisdictions a thing altogether unknown to Antiquity and brought in by Papal Tyranny The Popes at the height of their usurped dominion taking upon themselves to be head of the Christian Churches to be the Universal Bishop thereof and all other to be but their Curates took then upon them also among other matters to exempt from the power of â—â—y their under Bishops whomsover they Pleased And out of policy to have the more Creatures and Vassals immediately depending on them in every Kingdom and Nation to stickle for them with Kings and Princes on all occasions did for the most part exempt all Monasteries who with their near Relations and Tenants made a great part of the Kingdom from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop they exempted also several Deans and Chapterss several peculiar Chappels several Arch-Deaconries and other and some of these were endowed with Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction in their Precincts wherein they acted whatever they pleased without controul of any but their Popeships All which would have appeared a confused madness in Primitive times when for any person to have been out of the Jurisdiction of all Bishops was to have been quite out of the Church and would have been lookt upon as a Heathen and Infidel according to the Primitive practice in all Ages till Papal usurpation And therefore all these Exempt Jurisdictions are meer Papal and if duely examined will be found opposite to the established Laws of this Kingdom since the reformation from Popery as they are directly opposite to the Primitive Canons of the Church before Popery was known or heard of And by reason of these Exempt Jurisdictions great disputes and great frauds arise between the Bishop and them and the poor Clergy are so pild and pold by them both that they are forc't to go in threadbare Coats whilst the several Officers of both grow fat and fair by fees extracted from them Wherefore I humbly conceive the Bishops with the rest of the Clergy are bound in conscience to implore the Assistance of both Houses of Parliament to Petition His Majesty for the redress of these abuses by Pious Laws Setling the Church Government in the Primitive purity and authority which most evidently was very great and as greatly reverenced Bishops being the persons to whom Christ and his Apostles committed the Souls of Men bought with the precious blood of Christ to whom be glory and to his holy Spouse the Church be all Sacred Authority for ever Amen A Charitable Admonition to all Non-Conformists MY beloved in Christ you see how earnestly I have pleaded for you to the Fathers and Governors of our Church that they would graciously condescend to abolish some Ceremonies in the Church that they may receive you into it but yet I have no great hopes that they will hearken to me you your selves for whom I plead destroy my hope for they presently dash me in the teeth saying go rather and perswade the Sons in duty to submit to their Fathers then Fathers to yield to Sons and can you deny but of the two you are rather to submit You think to excuse this by saying Were it not against your Conscience you would submit but you dare not for fear of displeasing God his holy Word forbids you I beseech you shew me in his holy Word any one clear sentence against any one Ceremony commanded in our Church you see plainly I am not biast to any one Ceremony and I am sure I have read the Scripture all over several times and I humbly conceive 't is no pride of heart if I think I understand Scripture as well as you and for my part I cannot find any one condemning Sentence in Scripture But you have the Spirit of God enlightening you which I want by this rule you may affirm any thing out of Scripture and I should be as mad in disputing against you as you in affirming it 't is madness for a blind man as you conceive me to be to dispute of colours therefore if you are so void of all reason as to expect your bare affirmation that you have light ought to convince all gain-sayers I shall not trouble my self or you to gainsay you farther but address my self to others who soberly undertake to shew me such Texts as an unbiast Christian willing and desirous to submit to all Scripture Truths as I am sure I am may discover the truth of them and I desire those sober undertakers to show me any one such clear Text to excuse their non-conforming as I show them for their conforming Submit your selves to every ordinance of man c. 1 Pet. 2. 13. and Obey them that have the rule over you and submit Heb. 13. 17. These are as clear as the Sun that you ought to obey Now if the Text you bring be not so clear but doubtful I beseech you is your conscience so bold against a clear Text and so timerous at a doubtful Text is this