that he should study rather how to give no account at all For he is grosly ignorant in other Learning as well as in this as appears by his discourse about Ordination by Presbyters which follows a little after The Friendly Debate gave him no occasion to mention any thing of this nature but he had a mind it seems to give us a taste of his skill in this great Question though it be so small that I know not how to excuse his boldness in medling with it He supposes that the Chorepiscopi which he makes the same with our Rural Deans may lawfully Ordain And next that Suffragans were but such Presbyters so that he who was Ordained by them had not Episcopal Ordination And then thirdly He would have you believe that Archbishop Vsher and other Learned men concurring in judgment with him were of this opinion Every one of which propositions are notoriously false as I will plainly shew you by demonstrating these three things 1. That those called Chorepiscopi Rural or Country Bishops never had the Power of Ordination being not of the Order of Bishops but Presbyters something advanced above the rest 2. On the other side that Suffragans had the power of Ordination being not meer Presbyters but Bishops as those in the City were And lastly That the late Primate saith nothing contrary to this For the first The Country Bishops saith the Council of Neocaesarea n About the year 314. Can. 13. were but of such a degree as the seventy Disciples and appointed after their Type to whom the Antients every body knows make Presbyters to be the Successors as Bishops are to the Apostles And therefore that Council calls them only Assistants to the Bishops in that part of their Diocess which was distant from the City But that they had only a part of the Episcopal Power committed to them not the whole we learn from the Council of Ancyra presently after Can. 13. which decreed that the Chorepiscopi or Country Bishops ought not to ordain either Ppesbyters or Deacons o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To which purpose he that pleases may find many authorities in Justellus his notes upon that place And in the Council of Antioch Can. 10. the same is decreed again that they should know their bounds or measures and appoint Readers Sub-Deacons and Catechists but not dare to proceed further nor to make a Priest or Deacon without the Bishop of the City to which both he and his Region were subject The same Canons were in the Roman Church as appears by the Body of the Decrees p v. part 1. Distinct 63. c. 4. The words of which being abbreviated by Sigebert he calls them Arch-Deacons But afterward the Council of Laodicea decreed Can. 57. that this sort of Officers should be abolished and no Bishops should be appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Villages and in the Countries and that they who had been already constituted should do nothing without the consent of the Bishop of the City But instead of them there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitors that should go about to find out what was amiss and correct mens manners In like manner we find in the Body of the Canon Law q Distinct 68. c. 5. a Decree of Pope Damasus to this purpose That the Chorepiscopi have been prohibited as well by that See as by the Bishops of the whole world One reason of which prohibition might be that they did not r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know their own bounds as the Council of Antioch determined but ventured to appoint Church Officers without the Bishops Consent Upon which occasion St. Basil wrote a particular Epistle to the Chorepiscopi requiring that no Minister ſ Epist 181. p. 959. Tom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Readers and such Ministers as those Luke 4.10 whatsoever though of the lower rank should be made without him contrary to the Canons It is a sad thing saith he to see how the Canons of the Fathers are laid aside insomuch that it is to be feared all will come to Confusion The Antient Custom was this That there should be a strict inquiry made into the lives of those who were to be admitted to minister in the Church The care of this lay upon the Presbyters and Deacons who were to report it to the Chorepiscopi and they having received a good testimony of them certified it to the Bishop and so the Minister t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was admitted into Holy Orders But now you Country Bishops would make me stand for a Cypher and take all this Authority to your selves nay you permit the Presbyters and Deacons to put in whom they please according as Kindred or Affection inclines them without regard to their worth But let me saith he have a note of the Ministers of every Village and if any have been brought in by the Presbyters let them be cast out again among the common people And know that he shall be but a Lay-man whoever he is that is received into the Ministry without our consent By this it is apparent that Presbyters had not power so much as to make the lowest Officers in the Church and that the Chorepiscopi though above the rest of the Presbyters in Office yet were not so high as Bishops but were a middle sort of men between both An image of whom was remaining in the late Bohemian Church as I learn from Comenius who in his Book concerning the Discipline and Order among them tells us that beside the Seniors or Bishops u For they had Episcopal Ordination after they had been made Presbyters and Epicopal Jurisdiction and Succession from the Bishops of the Waldenses and Ministers or Presbyters they had certain Ecclesiastical Persons called Conseniors who were between the other two For they were chosen out of the Ministers presented by them to the Bishop and then solemnly ordained by him to the Office of Conseniors by a new imposition of hands But at the same time these Conseniors promised Obedience to the Bishop x Ratio Discipl Ord. Eccl. cap. 2. p. 37. as the Ministers when they were Ordained promised Obedience to them as well as to the Bishop z Ib. p. 33. Their Office therefore was among other things as we are told Chap. 1. page 23 24. to keep good Order to observe what was worthy of correction to inform the Bishop of it to provide fit persons for the Ministry to exercise Discipline with the Bishop and visit with him or without him if he required it to examine those that were to be ordained Ministers or Deacons to give them testimonials to the Bishop and in short To supply the place of the Bishop in businesses of lesser moment So it appears by the Book and by Comenius his Annotations upon that Chapter a page 92. Minoribus in negotiis Episcopi vices obirent Thus much may suffice for the Chorepiscopi who had not such
fain to call it so because they cannot tell how to answer it otherways and they will not lay their hands on their mouths If better were within better would come out they are fain to throw out such words because they want a substantial Apology The same Mr. Baily I remember charges the strength of one of the Bishops Reasons to be black Atheism and much worse than Pagan Scepticism o Ib. 89. By which you may see it is their manner to censure boldly and tumble out frightful words without regard to Truth For if you would know what Doctrine it is which he calls by the name of Brutish and Atheistical Maxims that 's another of his civil words p. 90 it is this That it is not lawful for Subjects to plant that which they apprehend to be true Religion by force of Arms nor to take up Arms against their Prince merely for Religion This was all the Bishop had said and not without great reason But they are Brutes or Atheists divested of all Reason or Religion who prefer not their Enthusiastical Heats before the most sober and wise Resolutions They as the Bishop speaks in the end of that Treatise are more ridiculously partial than the men of China for they talk as if they only had two eyes and all the rest of the world were stark blind So one would think this Apologist supposed when he thought to put us off with such a wretched Reply to what was objected from the Practices of the Old Nonconformists who being silenced forbore to preach and justified their silence against the Brownists who accused them for their submission to the Ecclesiastical Censures His Answer is That the Number of the ejected Ministers then was not comparable to what it is now p. 6. Which is just like the Exposition which they sometime gave of that Scripture Rom. 13.1 I conceive saith one p Natures Dowry 1652. p. 31. that those Christians who lived under the Heathenish Emperours but wanted strength to defend themselves were by that precept let every soul be subject to the higher powers obliged to sit still and to endeavour nothing against those that had the sword in their hands For it would have discovered them to be of unruly Spirits in that they proceeded wholly according to passion and not according to sober judgment So that there was nothing of Christian Virtue in their subjection but only of humane Prudence and no great store of that was necessary for they had been arrand fools if they had made a stir when they knew they could do nothing It is not want of will it seems but want of strength that keeps these men from breaking those Laws that restrain them The old Nonconformists he would have you think would have done as they do now had they been as numerous Then they would have entred into strong Combinations and slighted that Authority to which they submitted But weigh their Reasons which I alledged q In the Continuation Edit 1. 345. and shall not now repeat and you will see he casts a blot on them as well as us for they are such as will shut up the mouths of a great many as well as a few But how few were they in those daies do you think that were ejected He tells you usually not one to one hundred to what it is in our daies Ib. It is notably guessed by instinct for I dare say he hath no Author to warrant his Assertion and for once as the forenamed Bishop speaks in another case his instinct hath deceived him According to the computation of Philagathus there should not at this rate be five and twenty in all the Kingdome whereas the Humble Supplication in King James his time r An. 1609. p. 26. 31. talks of sharpness and rigour for the silencing and removing of no mean number of the worthiest Pastors in the Land insomuch that the ordinary means of Conversion from blindness and infidelity was interrupted and crossed in that so many worthy Lights had been by the Prelates removed from shining in the Church Nay one would think by their words that all who were good for any thing were silenced for they say p. 25. in an indefinite manner The faithful Ministers of the Gospel are in all disgracive and unworthy sort discarded and removed from being any longer the Lords Sentinels and Watchmen Which they repeat again p. 28. And the Defence of the Ministers Reasons for refusal of Subscription Å¿ Preface 1607. tells you of so many turned out from that high and heavenly calling that for any means of maintenance left to many of them they may seek their bread Here is such a many that being divided into two parts rich and poor one of them makes a many and therefore the whole was a great many not a few as this man affirms Nay by that time the War was begun there was none of the best sort of Ministers left if we will believe the Dialogue I mentioned t Between a Netherlander and Englishman which saith the Bishops had stript all the Assemblies of their faithfullest Preachers In this stile they were wont to speak then as they do now though I have reason to think that some of these faithfullest Preachers and Watchmen stood more upon their Credit than any thing else when they refused Subscription For I find it recorded above 60 years ago by Mr. Tho. Bell u Regiment of the church Chap. 5. that he discoursing with a Preacher about the Canons just then made 1604. against which he could alledg nothing of moment was told by him that he would neither lose his living nor yet conform to those Orders And when he demanded how that could be was answered that he would have one to do it but not do it himself And again being told he might as lawfully do it himself as procure another to do it uttered these words How can I do that against which I have so often preached which saith Mr. Bell I told him savoured of the Spirit of the proud Pharisee not of the humble Publican I thought indeed before that all their Proceedings had been out of mere Conscience which now I perceive to be of Pride in a great many of them through which manner of dealing the simpler sort become disobedient and are deeply drowned in Error and our Church pitifully turmoiled with Schisms and dissention Honest Bernard Gilpin x See his Life p. 132. 133. was of another mind who being called to subscription in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign though dissatisfied in two points of the Articles of smaller consequence yet subscribed to them least thought he with himself if I shall refuse I shall be a means to make many others to refuse and so consequently hinder the course of the word of God But perhaps you desire to know the precise Number which were then ejected and if you give Credit to one of your own Authors this man is much out of the way for
he hath propounded to finde out the several degrees of sin against Humane Laws and what Laws are of such moment that a man cannot be accounted a good Christian or a good Subject that lives in defiance of them For this end look back to what was said concerning the nature of a Law which will lead you to a right understanding in this matter It is a Declaration of the will of a Prince concerning those things which he judges needful to be done or avoided by his Subjects The more needful then he judges any thing to be done or avoided for the Publick good and safety c. and the more it appears his will is set upon it the more his Law is to be reverenced and the greater the offence is if it be broken especially openly and with an high hand Now you may know this partly by the matter it self as all wise men have determined if it be a matter of Justice Charity Piety Religion or Peace Partly by the manner and form of commanding and forbidding partly by the greatness of the penalty threatned in case of disobedience and lastly very much by the Preface to his Law in which if he be pleased to expound the reasons and the necessity of it and they appear to be great and weighty his minde and will is thereby without all doubt declared that a more then ordinary regard be had to that Law of his Apply now all this if you please to the Law which hath moved this dispute and you will finde that I had reason to say what I did and that they have no reason to equal the breach of other Laws which they mention with the breach of that An Act of the seventeenth of our present Soveraign made at Oxford required such persons as had not and should not perform some things therein named not to come within five Miles of any Corporation c. The breach of which Law I hold to be a grievous sin and when a man lives in it and in defiance of it keeps Conventicles I said his piety and honesty might justly be called in question My Reason is because it is plain to me by those indications now named that the Law-giver judges it to be a matter of great consequence and that he is much concerned it should be observed For first the Preface to it is solemn and lets us know that both Religion and the Civil Peace and tranquillity depends upon it and that they are removed from Corporations because if they were there they might take an opportunity the better to distil the Poysonous Principles of Schism and Rebellion into the hearts of his Majesties Subjects to the great danger of the Church and Kingdom This is the reason and ground of the Act which is as great as well can be and therefore the penalty is great forty pound for every offence and as I remember imprisonment for six months without Bail or Mainprize if two Justices of Peace please unless upon or before such commitment they shall swear and subscribe the Oath and Declaration mentioned in the Act. Compare now this with the other about burying in Linnen and about Waggons which they make such a talk of and you will finde neither the Penalties five pound in one Act and forty shillings in the other nor the Reasons given in the Prefaces any thing near so considerable as those now mentioned Which is a signe that the Law-giver doth not judge them of equal moment and necessity and consequently that the transgression of these Laws is not so heinous nor so much against his will as the transgression of the other The Penalties also for offences against these are ordered to be so imployed that they may do as much good to the Publick as the offences do hurt setting aside contempt of Authority which I cannot excuse But may not a Law-giver you will say be mistaken in his judgement as some think there was an error in that which was enacted about Waggons And if he be why should we observe such a Law I Answer I am not bound absolutely to be of the Law-giver's opinion that all such things are for the Publick good which he decrees I am onely to follow his will and do what he enjoyns when I can without sin And this I take my self bound to even when I conceive it were better for the Publick if it were otherwise ordained What will you say again when there is an intolerable inconvenience and a very grievous evil to the subjects by obeying That 's the thing I know you would be resolved in And truely the Moral Divines and Lawyers say no. It is to be supposed when that case happens that it not being the intention of a Prince to make his Subjects miserable he would not have made that Law if he could have foreseen such a mischief And therefore it ceases of it self to be a Law and looses its Obligation But then in the reducing this to practice they tell you there are these cautions to be observed First Obedience is never to be denyed but when the Law is against the Publick good If it be still consistent with the Publick interest though it be to the damage of some particular persons they may not break the Law Again it must be practised then onely when the Mischief to the Publick is not small but so great that in the judgement of the best and most prudent persons it be a sufficient cause of disannulling a Law and doth out-weigh the evil of material disobedience And thirdly this mischief likewise must be certain and notorious not onely in our fancy The security of which is when it is declared so by the voice of all men at least of all the wise and good and not onely by a party whose particular interest is concerned to vote it to be unsupportable And yet in case the truely wise and good on all sides think it so they ought not fourthly to disobey the Law with the scandal and offence of other men It must be done so modestly humbly and with fear that the rest of Mankind be not taught hereby to slight all Laws upon little pretences and trifling regards And lastly to secure all we must if we have time and opportunity ask leave of the Law-giver whose leave is to be presumed in such cases onely in time of a sudden danger And having done thus if we should be mistaken and judge that a publick mischief which is not yet the guilt of our disobedience will not be deadly but such as will easily finde pardon both with God and man To this purpose you may read more in that Doctor Bishop Taylor out of whom this Casuist quotes a line or two relating to this matter onely separated from all the rest of his discourse Which gives me occasion to note his disingenuity for besides all the Cautions which the Bishop r Rule of Conscience Book 3. R. 3. N. 10. c. there gives I observe since I writ all this that