may beginne in Moses for before every man was King and Prophet and Priest in his owne Family It will appeare that the first foundation of it was laid in inequality God then distinguishing her Attendants into three orders or degrees Priests Levites Nethinims and above these an Aaron as Superintendent and Commander After Moses death long after the people returning out of Babylon wee have a speciall mention of certaine Teachers in Israell which were also distinguished into three severall rankes Wisemen Scribes Disputers and these not onely succeeding but subordinate to the Prophets which Saint Paul hath a glaunce at against the Iewes where is the Wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer 1. Cor. 1.20 When the Temple was rebuilt though these Orders grew into Sects and instead of them wee finde Essenes Pharises and Sadduces yet not these Ephes 4.11 without their Primate and Metropolitan And in the time of our Saviour when Sects and Orders were so intermingled that wee could scarce distinguish them yet they all joyne in a Superior and wee meete with Priests and Scribes and Elders flocking for advise to the pallace of Caiaphas the high Priest Math. 26.3 After these wee finde Pastors Apostles Prophets Evangelists and they thus distinguished by the great Doctor Saint Paul And lastly Elders Presbyters Deacons and these under their Bishop Timothy 1. Tim. 1.5 So that a priority of degreee and power in the Priesthood wee may draw downe from Moses to Christ from Christ to the Apostles and from them to the Fathers and Prelates of the Church not only by Ecclesiasticall or Apostolicall tradition or constitution but for ought I am hitherto posseess'd of otherwise and I would some higher Iudgement would enforme mee better After Gods owne heart and * Quamvis forsan res ipsae in Ecclesia constitutae humani sint sive Ecclesiastici juris Ipsa tamen obligatio ad Reverentiam promptam Obedientiam talibus Ecclesiae constitutionibus exlnbendam est juris Divint Iuxta illa dicta Evangellca Math. 18.17 1. Cor. 14.32 Heb. 13.17 Io. Forbes Ir enicum lib. 2. cap. 1. sect 5. Iure divino Insomuch that Saint Ierome * S. Ieron comment in Epist ad Tit. cap. 1. himselfe who hath beene reputed a great stickler for the equality of Church-men and a Father that hath sometimes rivall'd Presbyters with Bishops Idem writing to his Evagrins tells him thus Vt sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de lege c. Parte 3. tract 4. Epist 9. ad Evagrium that wee may know Apostolicall traditions to bee derived from the old Law wee doubt not but of what condition Aaron his Sonnes and the Leuites were in the Temple Hoc sibi Episcopi c. The same Bishops Ministers and Deacons challenge in the Church Now who knowes not that Aaron by Gods owne appointment was superiour to his Sonnes his Sonnes to the Levites the Levites to the Nethinims So that a Bishop may claime a transcendency in the Christian Church even by divine Ordinance and Institution Est in lib. 4. sent dist 24. sect 25. or if the truth hereof could not be cleerely evidenced out of those sacred Monuments yet as the same * Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis dignâ—tate pendet cut si non Exors quaedam ab om tibus eminens det ur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur Schismata quot Sacerdotes S. Hieron in Dialog adversus Luciferian Father addes for avoiding of factions and mutinies and confusion in the Church there is one eminently One requir'd necessarily to sit at the Helme and Rudder a Pilot and Steers-man in those differences A Bishop otherwise there would bee as many Schismes in the Church as Pastors And certainely where disorders have beene so frequent they have proceeded principally through a defect of superiours who either had not the edge of Authority or having it have blunted it though some who have beene imbark'd wholly in matters of Discipline have from the discontented spirits of their age receiv'd their censure rather of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than Episcopi Arer in 1 Tim. 3.1 And yet if wee looke to the Analogy of Reason as well as Scripture we must either grant them a superintendency or else make an absolute confusion For it is here as it is with Instruments if all the strings be unisons there can be no harmony That hand is unshapen and little better than monstrous where all the singers are of the same length Parity in a Church is prodigious There must be as well a superiority in Ecclesiasticke as in Civill government there being required in both One eminent above the rest as Saul was higher than any of the people from the shoulders upwards 1 Sam. 9.2 'T is not enough that there are in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seers but there must be also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Overseers so Saint Paul chargeth the Elders of Ephesus Take heed to the Flocke of which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers Acts 20.28 The old Roman was but laugh'd at that would make an Army of all Commanders for where there were none to obey there could be none to governe And therefore the Wise man sayes that the Church is Tanquam acies ordinatal as an Army with her Banners displayed Cant. 6.4 And in such an Army one Officer is subordinate to another and a common Souldier unto both Some are appointed to be Horse-men some to runne before the Chariots some Captaines of sifties some Captaines of hundreds some Captaines of thousands 1 Sam. 8.12 Hereupon Church-men have beene by some resembled unto Starres for as in the Firmament above one Starre differs from another both in glory and magnitude so they doe also in the Firmament of the Church here Others compare them unto Angels and as there is a Hierarchy of them so of these also the inferiour Angels are illuminated by a higher order of Angels so should it be with those Angels of the Church below the Spirits of the Prophets being subject to the Prophets and God being every where the God of Order and not of confusion 1 Cor. 14.33 Moreover it is evident that the 70. Disciples were inferiour to the Apostles the Levites to the Priests even Iure Divino and in consent to this the Fathers warble sweetly the Bishops succeeded the Apostles the Pastors and Presbyters the 70. Disciples so that as on the one side they were inferiour to the Apostles so on the other these to the Bishops Which allegation of the Cardinall for it is Bellarmines allegation some of your Dutch Hotspurs labouring to wave not onely exclude Bishops from Apostolicall authority but also from succession and to throw them cleane under hatches advance their owne Pastors and can allow them to be the Apostles Successors Aliquo modo Ames Bel. Enerv Tom. 2. c. 4. p. 113. but Bishops as they now are Nullo modo so the factious
Franeker with his Moles sine nervis 2 Tome 4. chapter But if this shall passe for Text and they can thus dis-myter Bishops to crowne their Presbyters how was it that Titus by the appointment of Saint Paul from God no doubt otherwise what had Saint Paul to doe to appoint Titus was left at Creet to ordaine Elders there in every City to reject Hereticks and to set in order the things which were amisse Tit. 1.5 And Titus was the Bishop the first Bishop of the Cretians Moreover how came it to passe Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. that Timothy had by the same Saint Paul power committed unto him over Presbyters and counsell given him to admit an accusation or not to punish or not to punish 1 Tim. 5.19 And that Timothy was a Bishop too the first Bishop of Ephesus who can contradict Now Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. what can these instances otherwise imply then a Superiority by divine law and yet this is againe lifted by the Brethren from Bishops to their Presbyters who may receive an accusation as they pretend no lesse then others And for any Priority Timothy had over the Elders of his time or any Authority to punish or not they stiffly deny not allowing Him or any other Bishop ullum forum Ecclesiasticum praeter forum conscientiae Vt supra Tom. 1. pag. 226. Amesius in great heate would awhile perswade mee so yet afterwards blowes his fingers acknowledging that there were in the Primitive Church besides those the Father styleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men eminent in the word Euseb lib. 7. cap. 13. certaine Presbyters Bishops he will not call them or if he doe he reconciles the Termes which did only attend Governement and for proofe hereof hee quotes Origen against Celsus Orig. Tom. 3. contra Celsum where the Heretique exprobrating the christian Doctors for their weake and simple Auditors the Father answers that the christian Teachers had first for their Schollars some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probationers and after they were approved did institute two Orders Vnum Incipientium the one of Novists which they called Catechumeni Alterum perfectiorum the other of riper and maturer judgement Vide Amesium tom 2. cap. 4. pag. 108. de distinct Epis cap. presbyteri and amongst them some were praepositi which enquir'd only into the manners and life of others and those which were vitiously inclin'd they punished and cherish'd them which were otherwise dispos'd to vertue Thus whilst he would Enervare Bellarminum hee doth but Enervare Ecclesiam and playing too much with that Candle sindgeth his owne wings First he drownes the word Episcopus in Presbyter and makes them both one and so restraines them to those and onely to those whom he calls Laborantes in Doctrina yet afterwards he new ranks them againe and in one file places his Predicants in another Governours What 's this but that Prelates themselves will allow inferiour Pastors That there is Idem Ministerium but Diversa potestas and that they differ not Quoad virtutem Sacerdotii but quoad potentiam Iurisdictionis There are some and I would there were not turbulent Spirits in our Church which are at such defiance with the Romish See that they are impatient of any other and whilst they endeavour to dis-pope her they would un-Bishop all Christendome For mine owne part a Papall Iurisdiction I equally renounce and disapprove as a Prerogative both insolent and usurp'd but an Episcopall doth not onely ingage my consent but my obedience and that upon a double tye of Reason and Religion If I should not respect order I were a beast if not the Ordinance of my Church a Heathen Saint Paul requires subjection to higher powers on a strong ground Mat. 18.17 because there is no power saith hee but of God Rom. 13.1 no power no civill one you 'l say nay no Ecclesiasticke neither they are both the Ordinances of God He hath a finger in them They are after his owne Heart and he that doth oppose them the Apostle tells you what he purchaseth what Contempt yes and only so No Condemnation too Rom. 13.2 'T is well nigh growne proverbiall now in the English Church no Bishop no King and if neither Bishop nor King how a God God professeth Method and Order in his universall Governement and without these there would bee some manifest Breach and flaw in the carriage of inferior things He knowes that Equality lookes to Anarchy and Anarchy to Confusion And certainely Episcopall honour hath gone downe the winde since this dreame of parity first started in the Church since the Levite hath beene stript of his proper portion and fed with the naked benevolences of the people Geneva doubtlesse was well pleased when Bishopricks were first analiz'd into Pensions when the large revenewes of her Church were un-ravell'd to a stipend of 40. pounds per Annum The Layicke whose religion lieth most in his purse little cares how the Oxe bee muzl'd so he have the profit of treading-out the corne Insomuch that her great Presbyter Calvine himselfe who before had laid the Authority of the Church in the hands of the people and thereupon made stipendary in his commentaries on the lesser Prophets sadly complaineth of a short proportion and a slow Paie And in deed the Glory of the Pastor hath not a little wrap'd and declin'd since Divinity hath beene so much acquainted with the Stipend and the Trencher Wee raise Doctrines now-a-daies according to our pay fill others Eares as they our Hands or Belly put Honey in our Sacrifice instead of Salt sweeten our discourse to the palate of our Contributors Wee sing of their power and cry downe our owne Adde vigour and quicknesse to those temporall hands which can only binde and lose on Earth no more and shackle the vertue of those spirituall ones which as they lose or binde on Earth so they Lose and Binde in Heaven also Wee have so long untwisted the power of the Clergy and woon'd up that of the Layicke that now we are intangled in our owne webbe strucke through with our owne Darts Saint Paul had a time when he could not onely threaten his Corinthian with the Rod but the Galathian with the Sword too with an Abscindantur qui disturbant vos Let them bee cut off that trouble you Gal. 5.12 But now our Sword is not only Blunt or Rustie but wrested out of our hand and how to regaine or new-furbish it wee know not The Philistims have not left us so much as a Smith in Israell So that 1. Sam. 13.19 it speeds now with the poore Pastors as it did then with Saul's heartlesse souldiers who had neither Sword nor Speare for the day of Battle 1. Sam. 13.22 Wee have so long given advantage to the meere secular power that at length our Sword is beaten into the Sithe and our Speare into the pruning Hooke The penall statute hath a Jirke at us and
the Arke of God without some kinde of Musicke whether in times of peace or warre of triumph or overthrow except once when the Philistines to the disgrace of Israel led it captive and brought it from Eben-Ezer unto Ashdox where though it lost a while its former melody it found a kind of observance from the Pagans themselves who put it in the house of their God and because it should not bee long there without reverence Dagon himselfe falls on his face to worship it as if hee had blush'd that mettall and wood and stones the substance belike of that false God should acknowledge a true Divinity where Barbarisme and Infidelity would not But it seemes God was not well pleas'd with this kind of worship but instead of a blessing sends a disease the Emrods drive the Arke of God from Ashdod to Gath from Gath to Ekron from Ekron to Bethshemesh from thence to Kyriath-iearim where after some time of lamentation David fetching it againe to Zion prepares all manner of Instruments for the removall and the whole house of Israel play before it with Harpes and Psalteries and Timbrels and Cornets and Cymballs 2 Sam. 6.5 And after the Arke had rest there being a place prepar'd and a Tent pitched for it in the Citie of David the chiefe of the Levites and their brethren were appointed to be their Singers with Instruments of Musick sounding by lifting up their voyce with ioy 1 Chron. 15. v. 1.16 And because this sacred melody might not breed confusion in publike services speciall men are cull'd out by David for speciall Instruments others for Songs for the better raising up of mens hearts and sweetning their affections towards God Eleezer and Iehosaphat the Priests were appointed to sound with Trumpets continually Heman and Ethan with Cymballs of brasse Zacharit and Maasiah with Psalteries on Alamoth Maitathia and Azzacia with Harps on the Sheminith to excell Chenaiah chiefe of the Levites was for Song for Song as well to instruct others as to sing himselfe so sayes the Text Hee instructed about the Song because he was skilfull V. 19 20 21 22. 1 Chro. 15. Insomuch that though our Prophet here seriously profest that he himselfe would sing and sing aloud yet we understand it for the most part rather of his Pen than of his Voyce for though the greater bulke of Psalmes was compos'd by David yet as Saint Augustine observes hee sung onely nine in his owne person Asaph Eman Ethan Ieduthun D. Aug. de Tit. primi Psal Reliqui dicti a quatuor principibus juxta titulorum inscriptionem the rest were sung or at least commanded to be sung by one of those foure chiefe Musicions specified in the inscription fronted to each Psalme and these were men Spiritu sancto mundati sayes the Father whom the holy Ghost had purified and apted for a sacred modulation and hee that had the greatest measure of the Spirit for the present he for the most part sung and not onely sung but sometimes prophesied prophesied with instruments too for so we reade Asaph Eman and Ieduthun were to prophesie with Harpes Psalteries and Cymballs and this custome was continued untill the dayes of Salomon 1. Chron. 6.32 Neither did it cease in the beginning of this wise Kings Reigne but we heare an Eccho and resounding of it at the Dedication of his glorious Temple where we have a touch againe of this melodious Hierarchy Priests Levites Nethynims Singers Trumpeters the Levites with their Sonnes and brethren which were Singers being arrayed in white linnen and having Cymballs and Psalteries and Harpes stood at the East end of the Altar and with one hundred and twentie Priests sounding with Trumpets and the Trumpeters and Singers were as one to make one sound to bee heard in praising the Lord God 2 Chron. 5.12 And this manner of Jubilation and magnifying of God aloft continued onely the time of Captivitie excepted till the expiration of the Law and though in the first seeding of the Gospell it seeme swept cleane away with those Ceremonies of Israel wee having no mention by the Evangelists either of vecall or Instrumentall melodie except in a solitary Quire by a Song of Simeon or a Magnificat of Mary or a Benedictus of Zacharias yet some of the Fathers will tell us that in the Iewish Synagogue even in the times of Christ there was a kinde of Diapsalma a leaping into Dances which though some jeering Michals may account to be little lesse than mimicall or ridiculous yet no doubt religious enough if sincerely done as we may see by the holy practices of David and Myriam and many thousands more 'T is true in the dawne and rising of the Primitive Church we read of Spirituall Songs Hymnes and Psalmes but these it seemes spoken only not sung or if there were singing then no singing aloud No Melody so proper then as of the heart and surely then and now that is the best private Melody Speaking to your selves saith Saint Paul and making melody in your bearts to the Lord Ephes 5.19 And this was the loudest melody the Church could or durst make awhile being yet but a handfull of Apostles with their Proselites or Catechumeni and these for the most part under the sword of persecution too but not long after this custome of singing aloud began againe to revive in the Church in the dayes of * Euseb l. 3. c. 32. Socrat. lib. 6. cap. 8. Ignatius that Ignatius that trode so neere on the heeles of the Apostles the Disciple of Iohn and second or as some would have it third Bishop after Saint Peter in the Church of Antioch M. H. Eccle. Chron. ad ann 100. T. C. lib. 1. pag. 203. martyred in the time of Traian neere 100. yeeres after Christ though * Euseb l. 3. c. 32. Socrat. lib. 6. cap. 8. some who labour not onely to deface but to cry downe Antiquity this way derive the pedigree a little lower from the times of Constantius the Emperour 25 5. yeeres after when this solemne custome bloom'd againe by the zealous endeavours of Flavian and Diadore men that stoutly propugn'd the Apostolike Faith M. H. Eccl. Chren ad ann 355. against the Bishop of the same See Leantius the Arrian nay lower yet 23. yeeres after to the times of Damasus in the Reigne of Valentinian by Chronologicall computation 378. yeeres after Christ Theod. lib. 2. c. 24. though it be evident that this custome was on foot long before in the Greeke Church M. H. Eccles Chron. ad ann 178. And for proofe hereof a learned * Idem ad annum 367. Antiquary quotes both the Authority and Practice of S. Basil who first brought it into Caesarea where hee was Bishop and afterwards bequarrell'd by Sabellius the Hereticke and Marcellus who tooke occasion to exasperate the Churches against him as being the Authour of Innovation he alledgeth the examples of many Churches in this kinde Sanct. Basil Ep 63. those of
man consider'd the one Interior Ingraffed into Christ assisted and agitated by the holy spirit which searcheth every chinke cranny of the heart watering her barren furrowes and sending showies into the little vallies thereof making it fruitfull with the drops of raine Psal 65.11 suppling and mollifying that stone like flesh According to this man which is Inward he wills that which is Good approues the law of God serves it delights in it magnifies it The other Exterior which is not yet totally renewed but remaines in part carnall still retaining the corruptions of mans nature and as a prisoner to the flesh hath not yet knock'd off his Gives and Fetters This man being still outward to the world followeth the law in his members And hence is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that contrary warre in the same man in the one part or wing of him we see the law of the members fighting and strugling for the law of sinne leading man captive through the infirmities of the flesh On the other side is the law of God to which in a holy correspondency the minde or will being renewed assent Betweene these is the whole man placed Aret. in cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 23. quasi communis praeda as a common booty or prey expos'd unto the assaults of both And in this encoūter it speeds with him as with the two opposite armies in the valley of Rephidim Exod 17. sometimes Israell prevaileth sometimes Amaleck the minde sometimes sometimes the flesh As long as the hands be held up whiles the thoughts be elevated the minde soring there is a great shout heard in the Hebrew Campe the Israelite hath the day the inward man prevaileth and then the Hosannah goes for the Law of God but when the hands be let downe when his devotions are a drooping when he begins to flag and grovell towards the Flesh straight there is a noyse of victory in the Heathen troops the Amalekite gives the chase the outward man prevaileth and so the cry runnes for the Law of sinne In this case the regenerate man must doe as Moses there did rest upon the stone the Corner-stone Christ Iesus and his hands being wearie with lifting up his mentall parts overburdened with the waight of the flesh Faith and Prayer like another Hur and Aaron must pillar and support them then he shall be steady till the going downe of the Sun till hee set in death when Amalek shall be discomfited all his spirituall enemies put to the sword and he in peace goe in and possesse the land promised to his Fore-fathers the caelestiall Land the Canaan above where he shall raigne with Abraham Isaac and Iacob for ever and ever Thus in a double ranke I have shewed you the double man inward and outward the one under the colours of the flesh marching for the Law of sinne the other under the Ensigne of the spirit fighting for the Law of God It remaines now that in the Reare we bring up the Ego ipse the Apostle himselfe ready arm'd for the conflict and viewing him dividing these Ranks observe how with the Minde he serves the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of sinne PARS III. Ego ipse servio I my selfe serve SOme ancient Hereticks taking occasion by the errour of Origen S. Chrys Theo. Basil whom many of the Greeke interpreters followed and some of the Latine make here a Prosopopeia or fictio pèrsonae as if by this Ego ipse I my selfe Saint Paul himselfe had not beene understood S. Amb. Icrome but some other by him personated some unregenerate or carnall man or if himselfe himselfe as he was formerly under the Law and not yet under Grace D. Aug. ad Simplicium lib. 1. q. 1. D. Aug. lib. 6. cont Iulian. c. 11. In which opinion the great Saint Augustine confesseth that he sometimes wandred but afterwards tooke up with his Prius aliter intellexeram vel potius non intellexeram in the first of his Retractations 23. chapter And upon this tide many scruples of the Church then were after wasted to posteritie The Pelagians of old and their way-ward Proselites have scattered two pestilent Epistles to this purpose the one written by Iulian to Boniface at Rome the other by eighteene Bishops Ring-leaders of that Faction to the See of Thessalonica both which quoted and confuted by the learned Father in his Anti-pelagian controversies principally against Iulian the Muster-master if I may so stile him of that dangerous Sect who contended that under this Ego ipse Saint Paul either described Vid. fusius Par. in cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 25. hominem aliquem libidinosum some one that was luxurious or incontinent not yet wash'd from the grosser corruptions of the Flesh or else discover'd the nature of man after the Fall when and how farre he might prevaile without grace and upon this misconjecture they strooke at the heart of originall sinne strangled that in the wombe of our first Parents gave sucke to new fancies of the times cocker'd an upstart of their owne begetting shoulder'd up nature with grace engag'd freewill in matters of the Spirit contrary to the Apostles Peccatum in me habitans and his quod non vellem hoc ago in the 15. and 17. verses of this chapter But it is more than probable that this Ego ipse reacheth Saint Paul himselfe he continuing his complaint in the first person through the whole body of this chapter Ego sum carnalis ego agnosco ego consentio ego delector ego servio it is I that am carnall at the 14. verse and I allow not at the 15. and I will not at the 16 and I delight at the 22. and I serve here at the 25. I I my selfe I Saint Paul I the Apostle I the great Doctour I the chosen vessoll hee gives not the least hint or touch of any other Ego nescio quid sit Scr. pturas penitus pervertere si hoc non sit Beza Annot. in cap. 7. Rom. v. 25. And therefore it is a bold Fiction and a manifest depravation of the Text to wire-draw Scripture to mens private purposes interpreting here Ego by Alter as if I Saint Paul were not carnall not sold under sinne not captivated by the Law of it but some other some Iew or Gentile not yet converted when the maine bent of the great Doctour driveth another way he speaking of himselfe in the state of his Apostleship the conflicts and sikrmishes hee then had betweene the Minde and the Flesh not of his old Pharisaicall condition as some dreame for the words are of the present Ego servio not Ego servivi not I did but I doe serve and not barely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither I but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I my selfe I and no other which excludeth all figurative interpretation whatsoever And therefore doubtlesse the Apostle here even as * Sed hoc forte aliquis non Apostolus certe Apostolus