they are able to say for themselues and to gaine-say their accusers onely I lament that the antique order of church gouernement of great and long esteeme with our fore-fathers should be negligentlie lost or violently taken from vs and I feare me greatly least in the infelicitie of this age it be vtterly taken from vs. For who seeeth not and greeueth not to see how men are set together vpon mischiefe euen to reduce the whole Ministerie of the church to the bare Ministerie of the word But this our present controuersie can by no meanes better bee decided then by conferring the orders of the Ministery in that order as they were ordained of God and deliuered of the Apostles according to their singular degrees and seuerall seasons as they were then in vse So shall we easily learne what order is consonant to the word of God and what dissonant the which that I may the better performe there are two thinges which affoord me fit ingresse thereunto The first is the first institution of those seuerall orders The second is that one place of S. Paule to the Ephesians the fourth chapter where he setteth downe the diuerse Ministeries of the church distributed into their seuerall degrees Wherein the first place are inuested as the chiefe Patrons and first Patriarches of the gospel Apostles in the second Prophets in the third Euangelistes in the fourth Pastors and Doctors Of all the which we are now to discourse in their due order And albeit Paul seeme to write of the functions giuen to the church after the Assention of Christ Notwithstanding wee will looke backe a little further for this matter neither will we cease our diligent persute vntil wee come to that time and place in the which Christ selected his twelue Apostles and so returne by the seuentie and two Disciples whom hee ordained also and added to the Apostles for the preaching of the gospell throughout Iewrie And albeit this discourse doe chieflie intend the distinction of Ministers yet by the way we haue somewhat to say of Deacons also For whereas the doctrine of life doth not nusle vs vppe in anie idle contemplation of good things but rather traineth vs vp in the practise of all goodnes especially of christian charitie Therefore of the Ministerie of the gospel there ariseth an other Ministery which exerciseth it selfe about bodely necessaries of this life and consequently hath imposed vppon it the dispensation of the church stocke whereby it commeth to passe that there is a twofold Ministery of the church One which only respecteth the glory of God ou souls helth An other which regardeth the procuration of earthly thinges and the preseruation of this present life After these thinges handled and set out of hand as I may in the sequel of this my trauell I wil intreat of that honor and reuerence which by the lawe of God instinct of nature and right of nations is proper and peculier to the sacred Minister And last of all against the gourmandiers of church goods I will set downe and lay before their eies the odious sin of Sacrilege with the dires and punishments accompaning the same And these three things according to the variety of their natures I haue distinguished into three bookes but because they are of some affinitie and rise togeather insequence I haue also laied them togeather in this one volume Doctor Sarauia of the diuers degrees of Ministers What the Ministery of the Gospell is and what bee the partes thereof Chap. I. ALthough this present Treatise doth chiefly aime at the inequality of Ministers yet notwithstanding I take it a good way or not much out of the way if we set on first with the definition of the Ministery that thereby it may the better appear what is common to the Ministers among them all and what is proper to euery one in his particular order Vppon diuerse groundes of the Scripture diuerse definitions may be diuersely framed but I comprise them all in one word or two of the Apostle Paul and vppon his bare word I affirme 1. Cor. 4.1 1. Tim. 3.16 That the Ministery of the Gospell is a certaine dispensation of the mysteries of God which were reuealed vnto the world by the comming of Christ Where I cal a mystery not only that doctrine of the wonderful coūsaile of God in the redemption of mankinde but also all other things which God hath annexed vnto that doctrine And those I resolue into three sortes Whereof the first is The preaching and publication of the Gospell the second is The vse and administration of the Sacraments the third is The exercise and execution of Ecclesiastical gouernment The preaching of the Gospell is a sacred Embassee in the name of Christ in the which sinners are intreated to reconcile themselues to God or thus It is the publishing of that doctrine of free pardon of sinnes which Christ himselfe sued forth from his Father and purchased with his precious death or otherwise also thus It is the doctrine of the free iustification sanctification of the holy Ghost which is obtained by faith in Christ Iesus Many other definitiōs might be added were it not that I delight to be briefe Of these if you couceiue what the Gospel is and the preaching therof it sufficeth I am satisfied To the second part of this ministery do appertaine the commands of the Lord to baptise the faithfull and to administer the Lords Supper Mat. 16.19 and 18.18 But to the third part which is of gouernmēt is reserued the power of the keies of heauē the preheminence of binding losing vpon earth And this authority hath two branches whereof the one cōpriseth the Ordaining of Ministers the other cōprehendeth the Censure of maners Act. 14.13 By this power the Apostles ordained Bishops and Elders in the church vnto whom they demised their authority that all things might be done duely and decently and that good order might be mantayned in the Church of Christ In the assurance of this power the Apostle deliuereth vnto Sathan the stiffe necked and selfe willed enemies of the truth of this power in his Epistles he many times inter serteth imperious menaces with gentle admonitions But of this matter there is some controuersie in these daies haue you not heard of it neither did our fathers For there be some of strange opinion but strongly opinionat that the whole Cēsure of maners is to be set ouer to the Magistrate and how so because it appertayneth to his duty to take care for good order and publicke honesty and to take punishment of disordered persons pernicious offēces But to the Pastor vnder a christian Magistrat no such matter Let him only teach vertue and taxe vice and administer the Sacraments hand ouer head In deed he may admonish al men to proue thēselues before they eat of that bread and drinke of that cup to the which if they do obay it is so much the better but if not yet
were the churches of olde planted watered and increased It is a thing better knowen and commended then that I need to repeat it or themselues to repent it Notwithstanding there be some in these daies which take vp but to shrewdly this sentence of ours as if it were some Anabaptisticall fancie when it is said that the Church hath at this day if not Apostles yet Apostolique Ministers but as for the fancie if Anabaptisticall let themselues looke to that least they take themselues by the nose For my part I would but know whether the gospel yet at this day now after a 1500. yeares be come to the eares of all Nations In the meane time let them consider howe many nations whom the Apostles neuer saw by the paines and preaching of godlie Pastors who in this labour succeeded the Apostles haue receiued the Lord Christ I will not nowe stand to tell them onely this I conclude that the commaund and commission of preaching the Gospell standeth yet in his ful strength and force in the church of God and shuld so long as there is any nation that knoweth not the Lord. That at this day there is none sent by the churches of Christ to the nations which haue not knowen Christ it is not long of the lacke of sufficient power to send but of sufficient persons to be sent or at least wise of a better zeal to aduāce the kingdom of Christ Indeed no man ought to tempt the Lord Did not himselfe forbid his Apostles to stir one foot out of Ierusalem to discharge their duty before they had receiued the holy Ghost So requisite is it that a man bee throughly furnished for so great an enterprise before he vndertake it And therefore because the iudgement of one man may be ouer-weening and deceiued especially if he may be his owne iudge it is requisite that the authoritie of the church in that case be expected But here is required an Authority Apostolique the which if the Church haue not although it haue fit men neither hath it the power to send For who can giue that to another which hee hath not himselfe Whosoeuer therefore is sent whether you please to call him an Apostle or an Euangelist or a Bishop hee hath need of the like and no lesse power then Timothy and Titus had in the like and no lesse charge This therefore is the authoritie which is assigned to the church by the Keies the which the Lord our Sauiour gaue not so much to Peter and his collegiats as to the Church it selfe so that of right it maye doe that at this daye which it could of old namely wher occasion serueth to giue in commission vnto sufficient men the publishing of the Gospell with Authoritie Apostolique That the Apostolike authoritie is as necessarie for the conseruing and confirming as for the founding and first planting of Churches Chap. XVIII BVt for as much as the power Apostolike is no lesse needfull and necessarie for the conseruing and confirming as for the planting and first placing of churches we must also haue a special regard to that For by reason as it is thought of Bishops and Arch-bishops Primats and Metropolitanes which haue succeeded the Apostles and the Euangelists there is now some controuersie moued for that And verely I haue oftentimes wondered with my selfe what it is that should make anie learned or religious man thinke that the office of Apostles and Euangelistes is ceased in the Church and that at this day there are none possessed of any authoritie Apostolike to whom the other Elders ought to supply in the gouernance of the Church and I wonder the more that there bee any that should thinke the power Apostolike a thing so extraordinarie as if it were not possible that it should be deuolued to their posteritie Indeed the Church hath not continued those names amongst vs but is that sufficient to prooue that with those titles the authority also is surceased First if a man would but well marke the latter daies of the Apostles of Paule especially he should find that the Apostolike gouernment could not possibly end with the Apostles For by those things the sacred Scripture doth testifie of Paule wee may iudge of the rest who no doubt were no lesse carefull for the good of the Church euen to their last gaspe wheresoeuer it pleased God to translate them out of this life But the second Epistle of S. Paul to Timothie indited about the last of his daies doth witnesse abundantly what an vniuersall care hee had euen then of the Churches There hee maketh mention of his fellow-labourers whereof some he had sent to goe vnto diuers Churches and some hee sent for to come vnto himselfe that beeing now readie to flit out of this life he might giue them his last charge of all things concerning the welfare of the Church and the furnishing of that building himselfe had left vnfinished This his last will and Testament hee left with them The which had beene to no purpose had the power Apostolike died with him or had the authoritie of that their legacie beene compelled within the circuit of euery particular parish For they all whom Paul there remembreth as Titus Marke Luke Crescens Tithicus and Timothie himselfe were associate with Paule in his Apostolike sea as vnto whose seuerall charge hee had demised many and sundry Churches The which if it were not free for them with that recreant Demas to cast vp and giue ouer while Paul yet liued how much lesse after he was dead Wherefore now they were made and remaine his heires as before they were his peeres of his Apostolike paines and praeheminence That the other Apostles had also their consorts and collegiats in their Apostolike charge vnto whom themselues discontinuing this life they demeaned the no lesse care of the Churches with the like authoritie there was neuer wise man that doubted of it And furthermore that their lawfull authoritie with the which they prosecuted and perseuered in the Lord his affaires could no more be extinguished with them then it was abolished with the Apostles so long as there was any church remaining But as they succeeded the Apostles so had they their successors vpon whom if themselues did not bestow the power they had receiued the Church did which is heire generall of the power Apostolike But goe to nowe let vs imagine if there can bee such a conceit that it is not so as I haue saide let vs suppose also for a while that the Apostles left all vnto Pastors and Elders of equall authoritie who had onely the charge of their seuerall Churches and their prouinces limited within the precincts of their owne onely parishes What then shall we say became of those Churches in the which the Apostles intercepted by death or they which with the Apostles did gouerne the Churches could not ordeine anie Pastors Did their death fal out so pat that euerie Church had their Pastors and Doctors and that none of them was left
the old Testament framed to him selfe a peculiar cōmon wealth the which although afterwards it might receiue diuerse formes of gouernement yet he did alwaies so prouide for the honour of the Priesthood that they alwaies retained that degree of dignity which the Lord would haue them maintain among the people of God God vnder the Gospell hath impropriated no peculiar people neyther hath he planted any certaine forme of gouernment He sent vnto all nations preachers of the Gospell priuate men without any warlike accutrements Them he appointed not to alter any form of gouernment least they might seeme to be sent rather for the subuersion then for the conuersion of the Gentiles And yet this hindereth not but that they may take vppon them a greater state and better beseeming the worthines of theyr calling where Religion it self is aduaunced by publique authority and in wisedome is made the ground-work both of the lawes and the common wealth In the old lawe the Priests Honor was especially set downe what how great after what sort in what things it should consist In the new Testament that limitation coulde not bee layd forth because it could not would they neuer so faine be like it selfe or the same among all people in all places at all times But as good christians doe take vnto them selues many other imitable examples out of the old Testament and the law of nature and the orders of nations by the which they may the better be brought vnto a ciuill conformity and a conformable ciuility of life so likewise ought we to doe in this case The minority vnder-reckoning of the ministery is not so held in the iudgements of those christians that haue their cōsciences acquainted with diuine causes but in the sight of carnall professors and the censure of the Churches enemies All indifferent harts eies may see and conceiue that how much greater Christ is then Moyses and the Gospel more excellēt then the law so much more honorable is the Euangelike ministery then the Aaronicall Priesthood the which we are abundantly taught by the manifest arguments of the Apostle Paul we may very well learne by the manifold Sermons of our Sauiour Christ Of old among the people of God it was for good cause held a great matter for any man to be like vnto Moyses or Elias For after the receite of the law and his familiar conference with God in the mount the face of Moyses is sayd to haue ben so radiant with passing all wonderous bright some rayes that the eyes of the amased Israelites by no means might indure the Sun bright lustre of his resplendent countenaunce After him was Elias no lesse honored and renowmed as well for his wonderfull acts atchieued in the zeale of God his law as also for his miraculous end translated aliue into the Paradise of Heauen Notwithstanding all this the Apostle in his latter to the Corinthians doth learnedly maintaine that the Ministery of Moyses was of the letter and of death but the Ministery of the Gospell of the spirite and of life and so much the more glorious As for the rest our Sauiour himselfe preferreth Iohn Baptist alone before all the Prophets whom he affirmeth to be more then a Prophet and yet he resolueth that the least Minister of the Church is greater then hee And therefore if Christ may be Iudge the least Minister of the lowest degree in the Church is more honorable to be honored more in his office then are any or al the Priests of the old Testamēt As for the low titles the Lord gaue to his Ministers for bidding the glorious insignes of honor as of Lord Father and Doctor I aunswere that it was not done that the Ministers should be of lesse honor among the people then were of old the Priests Leuits or that they should be debased beneath all estates be of no esteem in a christian common wealth but rather that they might retain a lowly an humble conceit in so lofty so honorable an estate For vnlesse the Lord in wisdome should temper keep vnder the ouer-weaning waiwardnes of mans nature euen in his dearest seruantes Such is the excellency of the Ecclesiasticall calling that the conceit thereof might easely ouercharge light mindes with lofty thoughts sodenly ouerturne rash heads into ruined estates But as humility is taught them in their inglorious titles so is their excellency taught vs by their magnificall statues For are not these they which are called the Salt of the earth the Light of the world Stars in the firmamēt Angels and Legats Stewards dispensers of the mysteries of God Ministers of the spirit of life what and how great is that honor and power they haue receiued of the Lord that they can binde and lose in earth what things are bound and losed in Heauen that they can remit and retaine sins that they can open and shut the highest Heauen Can there be any thing giuen to men more Honorable in this mortality As for the vse of those names Doctor Lord Father we will speake therof hereafter Now that I may determine this disputation of those things we haue here set downe I conclude That christian people are no lesse deuoted to their Pastors in al duty then were of old the Israelites to their Priests and Leuits And Where christian religion is publikely authorised that there the same degree of honor is to be giuen to the Ministers in the common welth which was vsed to the Priests Prophets among the people of God But if so be it so fall out that among vngodly people vngracious Magistrats there be no reuerend regard had of this honor due to the Minister that there the professors be not offended therewith seeing the worthines of ther Ministery is such as that no iniury of man can any waies diminish it For it becommeth them to be at this point with themselues that if so be the honor due to their ministery be giuen them they may reioyce in the religious godlines of the faithfull towards God but if it be denied them they may not grieue thereat as if them selues had lost any thing Neyther are they greatly to contend with the Magistrate for their right especially at any intempestiue season but they are to commit their causes vnto God and with Paul to expect a more conuenient time to expostulate In the mean while let them pray vnto God that he would vouchsafe thē better mindes that would be accounted for good christians The chief care of a faithfull Pastor must be this to gaine many soules vnto Christ not much riches or many honors First let them seek the kingdome of God and al these things shal be cast vppon them Wherefore seeing there are many parts of that honor which is due to the Minister I will chiefely prosecute those which the ciuil society of life doth require in a christian cōmon wealth and that aboue all others which consisteth in the maintenance of