Christians especially in the greater Cities so multiplied that they must needs be divided into many Congregations and those Congregations must necessarily have many Presbyters and those many Presbyters in the absence of the Apostles began to emulate each other and to make parties for their own advantage then as St. Ierome truly notes began the manifest and constant distinction betwixt the Office of Bishops and Presbyters to be both known and observed For now the Apostles by the direction of the Spirit of God found it requisite a d necessary for the avoyding of schisme and disorder that some eminent persons should every where be lifted up above the rest and ordained to succeed them in the ouer-seeing and ordering both the Church and their many Presbyters under them who by an eminence were called their Bishops Or as the word signifies Supervisors and Governours So as the Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.7 they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as the Offices so the names of Bishop and Deacon were of Apostolicall foundation These Bishops therefore were the men whom they furnished with their own ordinary power as Church-governors for this purpose Now the offi◠es grew fully distinct even in the Apostles daies and under their own hands although sometimes the names after the former use were confounded All the question then shortly is whether the Apostles of Christ ordained Episcopacie thus stated and thus fixedly-qualified with Imparitie and Iurisdiction For if we take a Bishop for a parochiall Pastor and a Presbyter for a Lay-elder as too many misconstrue the terms it were no lesse then madnesse to doubt of this Superioritie but we take Episcopacie in the proper and fore-defined sence and Presbyterie according to the only true and ancient meaning of the Primitive Church viz for that which we call now Priesthood the other is a meerly new and uncouth devise neither came ever within the Ken of antiquitie As for the further subdivision of this quarrell whether Episcopacy must be accounted a distinct Order or but a severall degree in the same Order there is heer no need for the present to enter into the discussion of it Especially since I observe that the wiser sort of our opposites are indifferent to both so that whichsoever you take may be granted them to be but Iuris humani And I cannot but wonder at the toughnesse of those other opposites which stand so highly upon this difference to have it meerly but a degree In the mean while never considering that those among the Pontificiall Divines which in this point are the greatest Patrons of this their fancy go all upon the ground of the Masse according to which they regulate and conforme their opinions therein First making all Ecclesiasticall power to have reference to the body of Christ Bellarm. de sacram Ord n. l. 1. c. 9. as Bellarmine fully then every Priest being able with them to make his Maker what possible power can be imagined say they to be above that The Presbyter therefore consecrating as well as the Bishop the Order in their conceit upon this ground can be but one So then these doughty Champions among us do indeed but plead for Baal whiles they would be taken for the only pullers of him down But for our selves taking order in that sense in which our Oracle of learning Bishop Andrewes Winton Epist ad Molin 1. ci es it out of the School qua potestas est ad actum specialem there can be no reason to deny Episcopacy to be a distinct order since the greatest detractors from it have granted the power of Ordination of Priests Deacons and of Imposition of hands for Confirmation to Bishops only They are Chamiers owne words Camer de Oe cumen Pontif. l. 10. c. 5. Accipere Episcopum novam potestatem Jurisdictionem non iverim inficias I cannot denie that a Bishop as such receiveth a new power and jurisdiction Moreover in the Church of England every Bishop receives a new Ordination by way of Eminence commonly called his Consecration which cannot be a void-Act I trow and must needs give more then a degree and why should that great and ancient Councell define it to be no lesse than sacriledge to put down a Bishop into the place of a Presbyter if it were only an abatement of a degree but howsoever this be yet if it shall appear that there was by Apostolicall Ordination such a fixed imparity and constant Iurisdiction amongst those who were intrusted with the teaching and governing Gods people that is of Bishops above the other Clergie as I have spoken we have what we contend for which whiles I see doubted I cannot but wonder with what eies men read St. Paul in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus Surely in my understanding the Apostle speaks so home to the point that if he were now to give direction to an English Bishop how to demean himselfe in his place he could not speak more fully to the execution of this sacred Office For I demand what it is that is stood upon but these two particulars the especiall power of Ordination and power of the ruling and censuring of Presbyters and if these two be not clear in the charge of the Apostle to those two Bishops one of Crete the other of Ephesus I shall yield the cause and confesse to want my senses §. 5. The clear Testimonies of Scripture especially those out of the Epistles to Timothy and Titus urged NOw because this is the main point that is stood upon and some wayward opposites are ready to except at all proofs but Scripture I shall take leave briefly to scan those pregnant Testimonies which I finde in those two Apostolicall Epistles and first Timothy is charged 1 Tim. 1.3 to charge the preachers of Ephesus that they teach no other Doctrine than was prescribed That they do not give heed to Fables and Genealogies If Timothy were an equall Presbyter with the rest those Teachers were as good as he what then had he to do to charge Teachers Or what would those Teachers care for his charge How equally apt would they be to charge him to keep within his own compasse and to meddle with his own matters It is only for Superiors to charge and inferiors to obey Secondly this charge S. Paul commits to Timothy to oversee and controll the unmeet and unseasonable doctrines of the Ephesian false teachers 1 Tim. 1.12 according to the prophecies which went before of him and that in opposing himselfe to their erroneous opinions he might war a good warfare This controlment cannot be incident into an equality In this charge therefore both given and executed however it pleased our Tileno-mastix in a scurrilous manner to jeer us upon the like occasion with a profecto erit pessimus Dominus Episcopus Paulus that S. Paul was an ill Lord Bishop I may truly say that both St. Paul and Timothy his disciple doth as truly Lord it heer in their
Poza the braine-sick Professour of Divinity set up by the Iesuites at Madrill That it is free for any man besides and against the judgement of the holy Fathers and Doctors to make innovations in the doctrine of religion And for his warrant of contemning all ancient Fathers and Councels in respect of his owne Opinions borrowes the words in Ecclesiasticus Concil Constantinop Act. 5. Ecclesiast 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cited by the Councell of Constantinople Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum Blessed is he that preaches the word never before heard of impiously and ignorantly marring the text mistaking the sense belying the Authour slandering the Councell the misprision being no lesse ridiculous than palpable For whereas the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in auditum he turnes them both into one adjective inauditum and makes the sentence as monstrous as his owne stupidity Pope Hormisda in his Epistle to the Priests and Deacons of Syria turnes it right Qui praedicat verbum in aurem obedientis He that preaches a word to the obedient farre bee it from any sober and Orthodoxe Christian to entertaine so wild and wicked a thought he hath learned that the old way is the good way Ier. 6.16 and wil walk therin accordingly and in so doing finds rest to his soule he that preacheth this word is no lesse happy than hee that obediently heares it neither shall a man finde true rest to his soule in a new and untrodden by-way If therefore it shall be made to appeare that this government by lay-lay-Presbyters is that which the ancient and succeeding Church of God never acknowledged untill this present age I shall not need to perswade any wise and ingenuous Christian if otherwise he have not lost the free liberty of his choice that he hath just cause to suspect it for a misgrounded novelty For such it is §. 22. The fifteenth ground That to depart from the judgment and practice of the universall Church of Christ ever since the Apostles times and to betake our selves to a new invention cannot but be besides the danger vehemently scandalous c. LAstly it must upon all this necessarily follow that to depart from the judgement and practice of the universall Church of Christ ever since the Apostles times and abandon that ancient forme wherein we were and are legally and peaceably infeoffed to betake our selves to a new one never till this age heard of in the whole Christian world it cannot but be extremely scandalous and savour too much of Schisme How ill doth it become the mouth of a Christian Divine which Parker hath let fall to this purpose Quod duo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posuerit Park Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. 5. Who dareth to challenge learned Casaubon for proposing two means of deciding the moderne controversies Scriptures and Antiquity what more easie triall can possibly be projected Who but a profest Novellist can dislike it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the old and sure rule of that sacred Councell and it was Salomons charge Remove not the old land-marks Prov. ◠If therefore it shall be made to appeare that Episcopacie as it presupposeth an imparity of order and superiority of government hath been a sound stake pitched in the hedge of Gods Church ever since the Apostles times and that Parity and lay-Presbytery are but as new-sprung bryars and brambles lately woven into the new-plashed fence of the Church In a word thus if it be manifest that the government of Bishops in a meet and moderate imparity in which we assert it hath been peaceably continued in the Church ever since the Apostolicall Institution thereof and that the government of lay-Presbyters hath never beene so much as mentioned much lesse received in the Church untill this present age I shall need no farther argument to perswade all peaceable and well-minded Christians to adhere to that ancient forme of Administration which with so great authority is derived unto us from the first Founders of the Gospell and to leave the late supply of a lay-Presbyterie to those Churches who would and cannot have better The Second Part. §. 1. The termes and state of the Question setled and agreed upon THese are the grounds which if they prove as they cannot but do firm and unmoveable we can make no fear of the superstructure Let us therefore now addresse our selves to the particular points here confidenly undertaken by us and made good all those severall issues of defence which our holy cause is most willingly cast upon But before we descend to the scanning of the matter reason and order require that according to the old and sure rules of Logicians the terms be cleared and agreed upon otherwise we shall perhaps fight with shadows and beat the ayr It hath pleased the providence of GOD so to order it that as the Word it self the Church so the names of the Offices belonging to it in their severall comprehensions should be full of Senses and variety of use and acception and that in such manner that each of them runs one into other and oftentimes interchanges their Appellations A Prophet we know is a foreteller of future things an Evangelist in the naturall sence of the word is he that preaches the glad tidings of the Gospel an Apostle one of Christs twelve great Messengers to the world a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Overseer of the Church a Presbyter some grave ancient Churchman a Deacon a servant or Minister in the Church yet all these in Scripture are so promiscuously used that a Preacher is more then once termed a Prophet 1 Cor. 14. Act 1.20 2 Ep. Iohn 1 Peter 5.1 1 Tim. 4.6 an Evangelist an Apostle an Apostle a Bishop an Apostle a Presbyter a Presbyter an Apostle as Romans 6.7 a Presbyter a Bishop and lastly an Evangelist and Bishop a Deacon or Minister for all these met in Timothy alone who being Bishop of Ephesus is with one breath charged to do the work of an Evangelist and to fulfill his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ministery It could not be otherwise likely but from this community of names there would follow some confusion of apprehensions for since names were intended for distinction of things where names are the same how can the notions be distinguished But howsoever it pleased the Spirit of God in the first hatching of the Evangelicall Church to make use of these indistinct expressions yet all this while the Offices were severall known by their severall Characters and employments So as the function and work of an Apostle was one viz. To plant the Church and to ordain the Governours of it of a Bishop an other to wit To manage the Government of his designed Circuit and to ordain Presbyters and Deacons of a Presbyter another namely To assist the Bishop and to watch over his severall charge of a Deacon another besides his sacred services to order the stock of the Church and to take care of
the poor yet all these agreed in one Common Service which was the propagation of the Gospel and the sounding of Gods Church and soon after the very terms were contra-distinguished both by the substance of their charge and by the property of their Titles insomuch as blessed Ignatius that holy Martyr who lived many yeers within the times of the Apostles in every of his Epistles as we shall see in the sequel makes expresse mention of three distinct orders of Government Bishops Presbyters Deacons Now we take Episcopacie as it is thus punctually differenced in an eminence from the two inferior orders of Presbyter and Deacon so as to define it Episcopacie is no other than an holy order of Church-Governours appointed for the Administration of the Church Or more fully thus Episcopacie is an eminent order of sacred function appointed by the Holy Ghost in the Evangelicall Church for the governing and overseeing thereof and for that purpose besides the Administration of the Word and Sacraments indued with power of imposition of hands and perpetuity of Iurisdiction Wherein we finde that we shall meet with two sorts of Adversaries The one are furiously and impetuously fierce crying down Episcopacy for an unlawfull and Antichristian state not to be suffered in a truely Evangelicall Church having no words in their mouthes but the same which the cruell Edomites used concerning Ierusalem Downe with it down with it even to the ground And such are the frantick Separatists and Semi-separatists of our time and Nation who are only swayed with meer passion and wilfully blinded with unjust prejudice These are Reformers of the new Cut which if Calvin or Beza were alive to see they would spit at and wonder whence such an off-spring should come Men that defend and teach there is no higher Ecclesiasticall government in the world than that of a Parish that a Parochiall Minister though but of the blindest village in a Country is utterly independant and absolute a perfect Bishop within himselfe and hath no superiour in the Church upon earth and doth no lesse inveigh even against the over-ruling power of Classes Synods c. than of Bishops you are not perhaps of this straine for we conceive that our Northern neighbors desire and affect to conforme unto the Genevian or French discipline Honoratiss Do. Glanico Cancellario Scotiae respon ad sex quaestiones for which we find Beza's directions although both your act of a brenunciation and some speeches let fall in the assembly of Glasco and of the plea of Covenanters fetching Episcopacy within the compasse of things abjured might seem to intimate some danger of inclination this way our charity bids us hope the best which is that you hate the frenzeys of these our wilde Countrey-men abroad for whom no answer is indeed fit but darke lodgings and Ellebore The other is more milde and gentle and lesse unreasonable not disallowing Episcopacy in it selfe but holding it to be lawfull usefull ancient yet such as was by meer humane device upon wise and politick Considerations brought into the Church and so continued and therefore upon the like grounds alterable with both these we must have to do But since it is wind ill lost to talke reason to a mad-man it shall be more than sufficient to confute the former of them in giving satisfaction to the latter for if wee shall make it appeare that Episcopacy is not onely lawfull and ancient but of no lesse than divine institution those raving and black mouthes are fully stopped and those more easie and moderate opposites at once convinced But before we offer to deal blows on either side it is fit we should know how far we are friends and upon what points this quarrell stands It is yielded by the wiser fautors of Discipline that there is a certain Polity necessary for the retention of the Churches peace That this Polity requires that there must be severall Congregations or flocks of Christians and that every flock should have his own Shepherd That since those guides of Gods people are subject to error in Doctrine and exorbitance in manners which may need correction and reformation and many doubtfull cases may fall out which will need decision it is requisite there should be some further aid given by the counsell and assistance of other Pastors That those Pastors met together in Classes and Synodes are fit arbiters in differences and censurers of errors and disorders That in Synodes thus assembled there must be due order kept That order cannot be kept where there is an absolute equality of all persons convened That it is therefore necessary that there should be an head President or Governour of the assembly who shall marshall all the affairs of those meetings propound the Cases gather the voyces pronounce the Sentences and judgements but in the mean while he having but lent his tongue for the time to the use of the Assembly when the businesse is ended returnes to his own place without any personall inequality A lively image whereof we have in our lower house of Convocation the Clerks whereof are chosen by the Clergy of the severall Diocesses They all having equall power of voyces assemble together choose their Prolocutor He cals the house receives petitions or complaints proposes the businesses asks and gathers the suffrages dismisses the Sessions and the action once ended takes his former station forgetting his late superiority This is the thing challenged by the Patrons of Discipline who do not willingly heare of an upper house consisting of the Peeres of the Church whose grave authority gives life to the motions of that lower body They can be content there should be a prime Presbyter and that this Presbyter shall be called Bishop and that Bishop shall moderate for the time the publike affairs of the Church but without all innate and fixed superiority without all though never so moderate Iurisdiction Calvin in this case shall speak for all who writing of the state of the Clergie in the Primitive times hath thus Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 4. Quibus ergo docendi munus c. Those therefore which had the charge of teaching injoined unto them they named Presbyters These Presbyters out of their number in every city chose one to whom they especially gave the title of Bishop lest from equality as it commonly fals out discords should arise Neither was the Bishop so superiour to the rest in honour and dignity as that he had any rule over his Colleagues but the same office and part which the Consul had in the Senate to report of businesse to be done to ask the votes advising admonishing exhorting to go before the rest to rule the whole action by his authority and to execute that which by the common Councell was decreed The same office did the Bishop sustain in the assembly of the Presbyters Thus he and to the same purpose Beza in his Treatise of the degrees of the ministery Moulin Chamier others So as we easily see how
whereof Saint Peter acknowledges himself a Compresbyter for if it be alleaged as it is That this is against our owne Principles who allow but one Bâ—shop in one City and these were many let me put the Objector in minde that though these Bishops were called together by Saint Paul from Miletum to Ephesus yet they were not all said to be Elders of Ephesus but from thence monition went speediliest out to all places to call them and so we hear saint Paul say Ye all amongst whom I have gone preaching the Kingdome of God which plainly argues they were not confined to the compasse of one City or Territory but Over seers of severall and far-dispersed charges As Saint Paul therfore to his Timothy so Saint Luke here uses the terms promiscuouslâ— one being as yet in common use for both though the offices were sensibly distinguished And now what shall we say to this Tell me ye that look upon these Papers with censorious eyes tell me is all this think you no other than a formall presidence of an assembly without any power or command Is this to do but as a Consull in a Senate to propound Cases to gather Votes to declare the judgement of the Presbytery or Synod or as Zanchy resembles it ut Rector in Academia as a Rector in one of their Academies or rather as Saint Ierome whom you challenge for your Patron in this point hath it tanquam imperator in exercitu â—â—â—â—on Epist 〈◊〉 Evangâ—â—â— as a Generall in an Army who hath power both to Marshall all the troops and to command the Captains and Colonels and to execute Marshall law upon Officers If you have a mind to suffer your eies to be willingly blinded with such improbable suggestions falling from those whom you think you have otherwise reason to honour hugg still your own palpable errour not without our pity though without the power of redresse but if you care for truth and desire in the presence of God to imbrace it for truthes own sake without respect of persons aske your own hearts whether these charges and services laid by the elect Vessell upon his Timothy and Titus be any other than really Episcopall and such as manifestly carry in them both Superiority and Iurisdiction §. 7. The testimony of St. Iohn in his Revelation pressed NEither can all the shifts in the world elude that pregnant Vision and charge of the blessed Apostle St. Iohn in whose longer lasting time the government of the Church was fully setled in this threefold imparity of the Orders and degrees who having had the speciall supervision of the whole Asian Church was by the Spirit of God commanded to direct his 7 Epistles to the Bishops of those seven famous Churches by the name of so many Angels To the Angel of the Church of Ephesus To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna c. For what can be more plain than that in every of these Chur hes as for instance that of Ephesus there were many Presbyters yet but one Angel If that one were not in place above the rest and higher by the head than they how comes he to be noted in the throng Why was not the direction to al the Angels of the Church of Ephesus Divina voce laudatur sub Angeli nomine pâ—aepositus Ecclesiae Aug. Epi. 162. All were Angels in respect of their Ministery one was the Angel in respect of his fixed superioritâ— There were thousands of Starres in this firmament of the Asian Churches there were but seaven of the first magnitude who can indure such an invasion that one is mentioned many are meant as if they had said Non populum aggrâ—dit sed principem claâ—â— utique Episcopum Mâ—rlâ—rat To one that is to more To one Angel that is to more Angels than one To what purpose is it to insist upon any proprâ—ety of speech if we may take such liberty of Construction As if when the Prophet came to Iehu with a message and expresly said To thee O Captain he should have turn'd it off to the rest and have said To me that is Not to me alone but to all my felllows with me But to put this matter out of doubt it is particularly known who some of those Angels were Holy Polycarpus was knowne to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna whom Ignatius the blessed Martyr mentions as by his Episcopacy greater than his Clergie Timothy had been not long before Bishop of Ephesus yea of the Asians now Onesimus was whose Metropolis Ephesus was Wherein Ignatius acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very great multitude of Christians so large that in the Emperour Leo's time Iura Graec. p. 88. 90. it had 36. Bishopricks under it And so was Sardis having under it 24. And shall we think that these great Dioceses were as some obscure Parishes wherein were no variety of eminent persons so as the Angel that is noted here must needs be of a large Iurisdiction and great Authority But if any man shall imagine these things spoken to the Angel as to him under that title in the name of all the rest let him know that this cannot be for that the charges and challenges there made are personall and such as could not be communicated to all for who can say that all those of the Church of Ephesus were patient and laborious Revel 2.2 that none of them fainted that they all lost their first love that all hated the work of the Nicholaitans who can say that all those of the Church of Smyrna were either poore or rich That none in the Church of Pergamus denyed the fath Besides here is a manifest distinction betwixt the Pastor or Bishop and those of his charge and they are described by the severalties of their estates As when he had acknowledged the Graces of Polycarpus the Angel of Smyrna Revel 2.10 and incouraged that blessed Martyr by way of premonition to some of his Church Behold some of you the devill shall cast into prison and ye shall be tryed and endure Tribulation ten dayes and then addressing to him Be thou faithfull to the death c. And in his fourth Epistle Revel 2.24 distinguishing the Angel or Bishop of Thyatyra from the rest of his charge But unto you saith saith he and the rest of Thyatyra as many as have not this doctrine and the depth of Satan as they speake I will put none other burden upon them but that which ye have hold fast till I come So that this conceit is no lesse wild than that other which followes it of my old acquaintance Brightman who makes not only these Angels the types of those Churches but those Churches of Asia the Types and Histories of all the Christian Churches which should be to the end of the world Thus the Bells say what some Hearers thinke So cleer is this truth that the Opposites have been forced to yield Priority here intimated but a Priority of Order onely not
saw and conversed with the Apostles Irenaeus saw Polycarpus by their hands was he ordained Bishop constantly lived and dyed a Martyr in that holy function Tertullian was not much below Irenaeus in age not at all below him in the clearnesse of his suffrage Edant origines Ecclesiarum suarum evolant ordinem Episcoporum suorum ita par successiones ab initio decurrentem ut primus ille Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis aut Apostolicis viris habuerit authorem antecessorem c. Tertull. de praescription advers haer Edant origines c. Let them saith he set forth the Originals of their Churches Let them reckon upon the Order of their Bishops so running down by their successions from the beginning as that their first Bishop had one of the Apostles or Apostolicall men for his author and predecessor Thus do the Apostolicall Churches bring in their accounts as the Church of Smyrna h◠ving Polycarpus placed there by St. John the Church of Rome showeth Clement ordained by St. Peter and so the rest of the Churches show what sprouts they have of the Apostolike seed Even those which were first placed in their Episcopacie by the Apostles What can be spoken more fully for the Apostolike institution of Episcopacy This is more than enough to shew the state of the first ages of the Church under and after the Apostles And therein the superiority and Jurisdiction of Bishops received from their sacred hands Now if we think good to descend with the times which way soever we shall cast our eyes upon Ecclesiasticall histories upon Fathers upon Councels I speak it knowingly we shall meet with no other relation Should I undertake to gather in some proofs which are every where scattered in their undeniable records one Tome would not be enough and you might well aske the meaning of such waste I shall content my self to glean out some few Eares out of a large and plentifull field §. 14. The confessed Superiority of Bishops from severall arguments out of Antiquity ANd here in the first place it is well worthy to weigh much with us that all antiquity makes Bishops the successors of the Apostles The testimonies of Irenaeus Vide Bils loco citato Tertullian Cyprian Basil Theodoret Hierome Ambrose Augustine Sidonius and others are so familiarly quoted by all Writers that I shall not need to urge them In the next those titles of superiority and Jurisdiction which are giuen by all antiquity to Bishops above Presbyters Ambros in Ephes 4 idea Optatus l 1. contra Parmē Hieron in Ep. 60.17 Hierarch Ecles c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan in haeres 75. Conc. Carthag c. 68. Conc. Sardic c. 10. Sidon Apoll. l 9 Ep. 4. may well settle our assurance in it They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rulers in Ignatius Principes sacerdotum in Ambrose the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Dionysius An order generative of other Fathers as Epiphanius They have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given them by the Councell of Carthage Excelsiorem gradum by Jerome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Councell of Constantinople eminence of oversight by the Councell of Sardica Incomparably eminent Apostleship by Sidonius Apollinaris Excellent dignity and authority by the Councell of Constantinople in Trullo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Antioch c. 25. It were easie to be tedious in this kinde If now the Bishops of this Island challenge no more than is given to those Church-governours of the Primitive times certainly either they must be condemned or not justified In the third place it will easily be made to appear that in all the passages of Fathers and Councels the Presbyters are called the Bishops Presbyters Indeed how should it be otherwise Winton Epist ad Molin For as our learned Bishop of Winchester of old the Presbyters were as it were of the family of the Bishop and lived upon those distributions which were laid down as at the feet of the Apostles first so now at theirs untill the division of severall Parishes infoeffed them in a setled maintenance from their peculiar charges Thus as Doctor Downham instances Arrius is said to have been Alexander's Presbyter Petrus and Iraenaeus Timotheus and Macarius to have been Athanasius his Presbyters by the same token that Timotheus a grave and reverend personage as the history reports wittily and justly took off a foul aspersion from his innocent and honoured Diocesan The Deputies of Silvester in the Councell of Nice were his Presbyters Thus Crispio is named Epiphanius his Arch-deacon Heraclides to have been Chrysostome's Deacon It were easie to fill up pages out of Eusebius alone with such instances §. 15. Power of Ordination only in Bishops BUt in the fourth place the severall acts that were appropriated to the Bishops alone by the universall consent of all times do more than sufficiently evince their acknowledged superiority wherein even those Testimonies which are wont to be alleadged against us do directly plead for us Hierome himself can say Excepta ordinatione and Chrysostome who is cited for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can yet adde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only in laying on of hands Bishops go beyond them Homil. 11 in 1 Tim. 3 Neither is this any sleight difference or despicable priviledge but such as implyes a manifest Superiority as Ambrose justly inferreth and a clear distinction of Order Hands were imposed in the Church of old for more than one purpose In absolution for the penitent's reconciliation to God and the Church In Confirmation for the increase of Grace upon the baptized In Ordination for the blessing Conc. Carthag 4. c. 3. Benedicente eum Episcopo manum super caput ejus imponente and hallowing of the Ordained The first of these as incident and annexed to the holy Order of Priest-hood may be common to a Presbyter within his own compasse but the other two have been ever held so intrinsecall to Episcopacy that I would fain see where it can be showed that any extremity of necessity was by the Catholike Church of Christ ever yet acknowledged for a warrant sufficient to diffuse them into other hands It was to Timothy and Titus by the consent of all Antiquity Bishops of their severall Dioceses and not to any Ordinary Presbyter that St. Paul gives that charge of imposition of hands That Presbyter had been a monster among Christians that would have dared to usurpe it and the Church of those first ages observed it so Curiously that besides those strict Lawes which they made for the prevention of any such insolence restraining even one kinde of Chorepiscopi Rurall Bishops from this power for there was another sort which were in the nature and quality of suffraganes furnished with Episcopall right they have left unto us memorable records of their severe proceedings against such presumptions I may not forget two or three remarkable histories to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colluthus a Presbyter of
in the town of Kirkwall The Superintendent of Rosse his Dioecesse shall comprehend Rosse Sutherland Murray and the North Isles called the Skye and Lewes with their adjacents his residence shal be the Canonry of Rosse The Superintendent of Argile his Dioecesse shall be Argile Kintire Lorne the South Isles Argile and Boot with their adjacents his residence is at Argile The like of the Superintendent of Aberdene the Superintendent of Breckin the Superintendent of Fiffe the Superintendent of Edinburgh the Superintendent of Iedburgh the Superintendent of Glasgow the Superintendent of Dumfreys all of them bounded with their severall jurisdictions which who desires to know particularly may have recourse to the learned Discourse of D Lindsey then Bishop of Brechen concerning the proceedings of the Synod of Perth Where he shall also finde the particularities of the function and power of these Superintendents Amongst the rest these That they have power to plant and erect Churches to set order and appoint Ministers in their Countreys That after they have remained in their chiefe townes three or foure moneths they shall enter into their Visitation in which they shall not onely preach but examine the life diligence and behaviour of the Ministers as also they shall trie the estate of their Churches and manners of the people They must consider how the poore are provided and the youth instructed they must admonish where admonitions need and redresse such things as they are able to appease They must note such crimes as are hainous that by the censures of the Church the same may be corrected And now what main difference I beseech you can you finde betwixt the office of these Superintendents and the present Bishops How comes it then about that the wind is thus changed That those Church-governours which your owne reformers with full consent allowed and set downe an Order for their Election in your Constitutions before the Book of Psalms in Meeter should now be cashiered There and then M. Knox himselfe whose name you professe to honour by the publike authority of the Church conceives publike prayer for M. Iohn Spotteswood then admitted Superintendent of Lothian in these words O Lord send upon this our Brother unto whom we doe in thy name commit the chiefe charge of the Churches of the division of Lothian such a portion of thy holy Spirit as that c. And in the name of the Church blesseth his new Superintendent thus God that hath called thee to the office of a watchman over his people multiply the gifts of his grace in thee c. Now I beseech you how is this Superintendency lost That which was then both lawfull and usefull and confessed for no other then a calling from God is it now become sinfull and odious Are we become so much wiser and more zealous than our first reformers as there is distance betwixt a Superintendent and no Bishop But what is it the stroake the Bishops have in government and their seat in Parliament which is so great an eye-sore Let me put you in mind that your greatest patrons of your desired Discipline have strongly motioned an Ecclesiasticall Commission for the over-looking and over-ruling your Consistories and even when they would have Bishops excluded both out of those Comitiall Sessions Moved also to the Lords of the Counsell in Q Eliz. time by the humble Mot. and out of the Church yet have moved such was Beza's device long since for Scotland That in the place of Bishops there might be present in the Parliament-house some wise and grave Ministers of speciall gifts and learning sorted out of all the land to yeeld their Counsell according to Gods heavenly Law even as the Civill Iudges are ready to give their advice according to the temporall Law and for matters of greater difficulty What a world is this Grave and wise Ministers and yet no Bishops Doth our Episcopacie either abolish our Ministery or detract ought from wisdome and gravity Away with this absurd partiality But these must be to advise not to vote in any case beware of that where then is the third estate Beza's Counsell we see is yet alive but it comes not home to the purpose Welfare that bold Supplicator to Q. Elizabeth which moved that foure and twenty Doctors of Divinity to be called by such names as should please her Highnesse might be admitted into the Parliament House and have their voices there instead of the Bishops O impotent envie of poore humorists Doctors but no Bishops Any men any names but theirs the old word is Love creepes where it cannot goe How much are we beholden to these kinde friends who are so desirous to ease us of these unproper secularities Even ours at home can nibble at these as they think ill-placed honours and services yours goe alas too roundly to worke striking at the root of their Episcopacie not pruning off some superfluous twigs of priviledge rather than not strike home not caring whom they hit in the way would God I might not say even the Lords Anointed whom they verbally professe to honour at whose sacred Crowne and Scepter if any of the sons of Belial amongst you do secretly aime whiles they stalke under the pretence of opposition to Episcopacie the God of heaven find them out and powre upon them deserved confusion But for you alas Brethren what hopes can I conceive that these pre-judged papers can have any accesse to your eyes much lesse to your hearts my very Title is barre too much But if any of you will have so much patience as to admit these lines to your perusall I shall beseech him for Gods sake and for his own to be so farre indifferent also as not upon groundlesse suggestion to abandon Gods Truth and Ordinance and out of meere opinion of the worth of some late Authour to adore an Idoll made of the earings of the people and fashioned out with the graving toole of a supposed skilfull Aaron Shortly after these poore well-meant howsoever I doubt ineffectuall endeavours my prayers shall not be wanting for your comfortable peace loyall obedience perfect happinesse Oh that the God of heaven would open your eyes that you may see the truth and compare what you have done with what you should doe how soone would you finde cause to retract your own decrees and to re-establish that true Ordinance of the living God which you have beene mis-induced to abandon §. 9. An exhortary conclusion to our brethren at home ANd for you my dearely beloved Brethren at home For Christs sake for the Churches sake for your soules sake be exhorted to hold fast to this holy Institution of your blessed Saviour and his unerring Apostles and blesse God for Episcopacie Doe but cast your eyes a little back and see what noble instruments of Gods glory he hath beene pleased to raise up in this very Church of ours out of this sacred vocation What famous servants of God what strong Champions of Truth and renowned Antagonists of Rome and her superstitions what admirable Preachers what incomparable Writers yea what constant and undaunted Martyrs and Confessours men that gave their blood for the Gospell and imbraced their fagots flaming which many gregarie Professours held enough to carry cold and painlesse To the wonder and gratulation of all forraigne Churches and to the unparallelable glory of this Church and Nation I could fill this page with such a Catalogue of them who are now in their heaven that come for the present to my thoughts besides those Worthies yet living both here and in Ireland who would be unwilling from my pen tO blush at their owne just praises as might justly shame and silence any gaine-sayer After that a malicious Libeller hath spit out all his poyson against Episcopacie and raked together out of all histories all the insolencies and ill offices which have in former ages been done by professedly Popish Prelates which do almost as much concerne us as all the Treasons and Murders of formerly male-contented persons can concerne him faine would I have him shew me what Christian Church under heaven hath in so short a time yeelded so many glorious Lights of the Gospell so many able and prevalent adversaries of Schisme and Antichristianisme so many eminent Authours of learned workes which shall out-bid time it selfe let envie grinde her teeth and eat her heart the memory of these worthy Prelates shall be ever sweet and blessed Neither doubt I but that it will please God out of the same rod of Aaron still to raise such blossomes and fruit as shall win him glory to all eternity Go you on to honour these your reverend Pastors to hate all factious withdrawings from that government which comes the nearest of any Church upon earth to the Apostolicall And that I may draw to Conclusion for the farther Confirmation of your good Opinion of the Bishops of your Great Britaine heare what Iacobus Lectius Iacob Lectius Prascriptionum Theologicarum l. 2. Nota. 2. the learned Civilian of Geneva in his Theologicall Prescriptions dedicated to the Consuls and Senate of Geneva saith of them De Episcoporum autem vestorum vocatione c. As for the calling of your Bishops saith he speaking to his Popish adversaries others have accurately written thereof and we shortly say that they have a show of an Ordinary Ministery but not the thing it selfe and that those onely are to be held for true and legitimate which Paul describes to us in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus Cujusmodi olim in magno illo Britanniarum regno extitisse atque etiamnum superesse subindeque eligi Episcopos non diffitemur Such kind of Bishops as we doe not deny but yeeld to have been of old and to be still at this day successively elected in the great Kingdome of Britaine Thus he when Geneva it selfe pleades for us why should we be our owne adversaries Let me therefore confidently shut up all with that resolute word of that blessed Martyr and Saint Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all things be done to the honour of God Give respect to your Bishop as you would God should respect you My soule for theirs which obey their Bishop Presbyters Deacons God grant that my portion may be the same with theirs And let my soule have the same share with that blessed Martyr that said so Amen FINIS