102. the ninth and last year of Clemens 6. Simeon named Act. 15. 14. after his Kinsman James the Brother of our Lord was martyred consecrated his Successour at Jerusalem an 63 or 64. Euseb l. 3. c. 10. and 16. so that for full eleven years he was of an inferiour Order for so many passed after the mention of him in the Acts. 7. Dionysius spoken of Act. 17. 24. was the first Bishop of Athens Euseb l. 3. c. 4. To these may be added Archippus Bishop of Coloss Apollo of Corinth Epaphroditus of Philippi Tychicus of Chalcedon Sylvanus Sosthenes c. but it will be sufficient to review the Catalogue of the four Patriarchal Sees 1. After James the first Bishop of Jerusalem fourteen of the Circumcision succeeded him Euseb l. 4. 5. whereof Justus was the last who died an 131. which is full twenty years before Blondel's Ara. 2. At Antioch after S. Peter Euodius was Bishop till an 98 then Ignatius till an 108 after him Cornelius who died before 140. 3. Eight successive Bishops sate at Rome till 140. in which year Higinus was consecrated Antonini Pii Tertio 4. At Alexandria five are accounted from S. Mark the last whereof Eumanes was ordained an 134. Num. 4. That all these had the same power which is now claimed by Bishops is evident from Rev. 1. 20. where as the seven Angels of the Asian Churches are distinguished from the Churches so every of those Angels had a power of Jurisdiction in their respective Churches to redress abuses For why should they be particularly taxed for scandals and irregularities therein if they had no power to reform and remedy them It seems too severe to charge neglects on them who have no power to take cognizance of crimes and to correct them That those Asian Churches were fixed and determinate distinct Churches the Presbyterians cannot deny who affirm they were governed by Presbyters for that must needs be a determinate Body which is governed by one or by many The Independents shift we find here a Congregational Church wherein were many Congregations many Ministers many Believers many Pastours is frivolous for there might and many such there were yet these might be and were under one President over them in Chief for such as these many are to be found in our Cities where there are Bishops to rule them and it is evident that those Prefects were and did exercise authority over both Laity and Clergy from the rule given to Timothy by S. Paul before alledged John Frigivile of Gaunt writ his Reform Pol. an 1593 wherein he avers p. 64 c. Q. Elizabeth maintained the Government and State of the Clergy in England as God had ordained in the Law and confirmed in the Gospel for said he p. 14. Though the Apostles were equal among themselves concerning authority yet no sooner was the Church encreased but different degrees began S. Paul charged Timothy who was Bishop of one of those Seven Churches not to admit an accusation against a Priest therefore he might admit or reject an accusation against a Priest and therefore he had Jurisdiction even over a Priest Dr. Raynolds's Conference with Hart p. 535. thus states it In the Church at Ephesus were sundry Elders and Pastours to guide it yet among those sundry there was one Chief whom our Saviour calleth the Angel of the Church here then is our Saviour's approbation for the Chiefty of the Order and this is he whom afterwards in the Primitive Church the Fathers called Bishop Num. 5. The Apostles having ordained Bishops to succeed them in the Government of the Church they who were so ordained were thereby authorized to ordain others and so on to the end of the world Matt. 28. ult which in the judgment of the best Interpreters imports Though the Apostles continued not in their Persons yet should in their Successours That there should be such a Succession is concluded from Scripture Act. 1. 20. must one be ordained to take Judas his Bishoprick which by Divine disposition fell upon Matthias who as Euseb reports l. 2. c. 1. was of the Seventy an inferiour because a distinguished Rank to that of the Apostles which seems probable from v. 21. it being the employment of the Seventy to accompany and attend them Saint Paul appointed Timothy to depute faithfull persons to officiate in the Church 2 Tim. 2. 2. yea so great care had the Apostles for a Succession that as Clemens reports they Note Lift or Catalogue of approved men who should succeed the present Bishops in each Church Num. 6. In the Apostles times certainly immediately after there were three Orders in the Church not as Calvin who first conjured up Lay-Elders to be his officious Agitatours recites them nor as Mr. Dallee conjectures but as they are accounted in the Church of England Bishops Priests and Deacons Indeed it is very likely there was first but one Order the Apostolical or Episcopal the Apostles or Bishops discharging all Church Administration and Offices But they having a power entire in themselves and radically they were enabled to derive and communicate what they thought fit for the necessities of the Church to others Accordingly the Church increasing as it is recorded in the Acts the Order of Deacons was instituted who were not empowered onely to collect receive and distribute Alms to the necessities of the poor but to higher Ecclesiastical Offices For we find Philip both preached and baptized Acts 8. 35 38. That this Philip was not the Apostle but the Deacon Calvin thinketh so because he supposeth the Apostles were not then removed from Jerusalem Gualter is positive from the Testimony of Epiph. de Sim. c. and all ancient Writers Certainly Saint Cypr. ad jub is clear A Philippo Diacono quem iidem Apostoli Petrus scil Johannes miserant baptizati erant Beza reckoning the Pastoral Offices and duties adds Sub quibus c. under which we comprehend the Administration of Sacraments and the blessing of Marriage from the perpetual use of the Church in which particulars the Deacons often supplied the place of the Pastours so he Confess c. 5. Aphor. 25. This he attempts to prove from Joh. 4. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 14. with him concurrs Bull. Fleming Magdab who all received it from Just Mar. Ambr. Hter Aug. the Greek Par. and Tert. who is most express Dandi quidem c. The chief Priest that is the Bishop hath the first right of administring Baptism then the Presbyters and Deacons How long these two Orders continued in the Church is not fully resolved Some conceive from Act. 14. 23. about an 49. Claudii Septimo the third Order that of Presbyter was superinduced others conjecture not so early however Cities and their Territories submitting to the Sceptre of Christ Presbyters were constituted before all the Apostles died yet the Bishops still reserved the power of Ordination and by consequence of Jurisdiction as in the Greek Chruch even to this day Bishops alone Ordain as Arcud de
the Elderships should have the power of excommunicating all offenders even Princes themselves Hereupon in a just indignation he expressed his abhorrence of this bold seditious Proposition yet with great indiscretion he causelesly vented his wrath against Excommunication as it was a Church Discipline His Arguments improved by his Followers are these He supposed Excommunication did totally cut off the excommunicated from the internal and invisible Communion of the Church whereupon his Followers argued If the power of Excommunication be in the Church Officers then it lies in their power to save or damn men But his supposition is false and the inference of his Followers is wild as one and the most learned of them hath observed for he saith finis hujusmodi disciplinae c. The end of this discipline not final Sentence was is so still that the censured being deprived of the spiritual privileges of the Church they might be humbled to salvation This is the whole truth and nothing but the truth for its onely a barr from the external visible Society of Believers not to exclude men from heaven but to encline them to put themselves in a capacity to be received again into the peace of the Church for the enjoyment of those great privileges of holy commerce which all men religiously affected earnestly desire and value A method of Discipline which Christ and his Apostles thought proper to reduce and reclaim sinners It is medicinal in Saint Augustine's expression To. 9. Serm. de Poeniten med if that Tract be his ordained and applied for edification not destruction if for destruction it is for that of the Flesh that the Spirit might be saved 1 Cor. 5. 15. or it s a Chastisement the censured are thereby chastised of the Lord that they should not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. 32. which Chastisement is not sweet or joyous for the present but grievous yet yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12. 11. 2. Excommunication say they is a censure inferring a civil Penalty therefore if the Church makes use of it she enlargeth her Phylacteries by an encroachment on the civil Power But where do those wrathfull Objectours find this or how can they prove it It was always reckoned in the Catalogue of spiritual gifts practised by the Church for spiritual ends and uses and exercised upon the members of the Church qua tales in that capacity onely if upon contempt hereof a civil Penalty was incurred this proceeded not from the quality and nature of the censure but from the authority of the civil Magistrate who so far respected the Church that he made provisions against the contempt of her Discipline That which the Church aims at is either to reduce the offender or to warn others or to discharge her duty in discountenancing and disowning dangerous prevailing Heresies Schisms and Scandals all which are of spiritual concernment and cognizance 3. The Bishops claim this power by Divine Right and why not Forsooth this is contrary to the Oath of Supremacy and sets up two Supremes in one Kingdom This is an high Charge I am persuaded if the great Turk was acquainted with this noble Argument he would in a rage destroy all the poor Christian Bishops in his Empire or else he would scorn and deride it as it justly deserveth For the Argument runs thus Ministers by a Divine Right challenge a power to baptize Proselytes communicate Christians and doe other offices belonging to their Functions Therefore they set up two Supremes in one Kingdom or thus The Scripture declareth the Holy Ghost made them Overseers to feed the Church of God sure they may pretend to Divine Right who derive their title from the Holy Ghost Therefore the Scripture contradicteth that Supremacy which it establisheth But in sober sadness did none of the first Christian Emperours or after Kings understand their Religion and Prerogative did they ever declare the Imperial and Episcopal power were incompatible were they all so blind they could not espie this so obvious an inconsistency or did any of our own great Councils before that of 40. ever make such a determination As for our own Kingdom we may without disparagement to their great wisedoms compare many of our Kings with the ablest of any or all of them King Henry the Eighth was a wise Prince one that would not bate an Ace of his Sovereignty yet he never scrupled at the Divine Right of Episcopacy Q. Elizabeth was as jealous of her Prerogative and as zealous for it as the highest and most masculine Spirit yet she reverenced and maintained the Order The greatest for Learning and Judgment the Father and the Son were as Prelatical as the Prelatists What King James his opinion was of Episcopacy is before related what it was concerning his Supremacy which he cogently asserted he thus expressed Premonition p. 108. It consists not in making Articles of Faith but in commanding obedience be given to the word of God in reforming Religion according to his prescribed will in assisting the spiritual Power this is to be noted with the temporal Sword in procuring due obedience to the Church mark this too in judging and cutting off all frivolous Questions and Schisms as Constantine did and finally in making a decorum to be observed in all things and establishing Order in all indifferent things King Charles the First of blessed memory hath above and beyond all others resolved the case in his answer to Henderson's Papers in his Reply to the Answer of the Isle of Wight Divines Rel. Car. fol. 691. and in his final Answer fol. 709. Sir Henry Spelman in his large History of Titles p. 157. thus stated it God hath committed the Tabernacle to Levi as well as the Kingdom to Judah and though Judah hath power over Levi as touching the outward Government even of the Temple it self yet Judah meddled not with the Oracle and the holy Ministery but received the will of God from the mouth of the Priest This is evident God for the promoting of Piety and Justice among men hath ordained two distinct Powers the Regal and the Sacerdotal which in the times of the Patriarchs were formally united and inseparably followed the first born of the male kind in every Family This he seemed to alter in the persons of Moses and Aaron investing Moses the younger Brother with the Regality Aaron the elder in the Priesthood both these received their Commissions from God Num. 16. Every power is the Ordinance of God but the Regal as Supreme the Sacerdotal as Subordinate which subordination is not essential or causal but moral by virtue of God's Constitution and accidental for Order's sake Certainly God who gives all power can order a subordination of powers derived from him the one to be superiour the other inferiour and God was pleased to dispose the distribution of those under the Mosaical dispensation that as the Priests were not to usurp the Regal for Abimelech was
invented Remonst Dec. 41. This was smartly urged against them by E. M. a long imprisoned Malignant an 1647. p. 3. of his Address I cannot said he submit to any new Government either in Church or Kingdom because all our late Parliaments and the Long Parliament most of all have still professed great severity and made strict inquisition against all men that should intend practise or endeavour any alteration of Religion or innovation in Doctrine or Worship as a capital offence But for all their solemn protestations to the contrary the Root and Branch design went on and when it was first set on foot Petitions were presented to prevent and stifle it The total of Subscribers in onely seven Counties and those none of the greatest amounted to 482 Lords and Knights 1740 Esquires and Gentlemen 44559 Freeholders and 631 Ministers number enough to shew how generally well affected the people of best rank and quality were for this Government but their reasons are rather to be weighed which were these by drawing them methodically 1. They desire they may left in that state the Apostles settled and left in the Church in that the three Ages of Martyrs were governed by in that the thirteen Ages since have always gloried in proving themselves by their succession of Bishops members of the Catholick Church A Government as certainly Apostolical as the observation of the Lord's day or distinction of Books Canonical from Apocryphal or that such Books were written by such Evangelists c. This they thus farther prosecuted either Christ left his Church without a lasting Government which we fear to say lest it might seem to accuse the wisedom of the father and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in not providing for his Family which we believe he did from Saint Luke's Testimony Luk. 12. 42. and if he lest no Rulers he left no Pastour Ruler and Pastour in Scripture being all one in person office and expression And if he did not leave such as we desire viz. Bishops the Church which we fear also to suppose hath been Apostate from her Lord for 1500 years she having no other but these for Rulers for that whole space of time Or else Christ did leave a lasting Government if so then every motion and attempt of alteration is Antichristian 2. Most of the reformed Churches have Bishops all that have any Protestant Princes with Sovereignty have them the rest which have them not highly approve and value the Order and heartily affect and wish it 3. The Removal of Bishops will be a great Scandal 1. To the weak who if they be really such and withall well-meaning suspect all innovations as some design upon their Consciences to ensnare them which makes them to suspect and dislike our whole Religion as we have found by sad experience yea the grievous Scandal of our Religion as unstable hath caused many to revolt from it 2. To the strongest who are not to be offended for this reason because they are not apt to be scandalized with umbrages and impertinences but real inconveniences and mischiefs 4. The unspeakable advantages given to our Enemies of Rome by this change which in the event proved so 5. The sad effects and consequences which we foresee and in part feel 1. Which we foresee We desire said they the continuance of this Government for that strange fears possess our hearts that Schisms Factions and Seditions will overwhelm us order peace and unity will be far removed from us reformation and suppression of wickedness and vice as is pretended will be totally cashiered and extinguished nor will ever take place or effect among us For we suspect and believe the sudden mutation of a Government so long settled and so well known cannot with any proportionable utility recompence the disturbances and disorders which it may work by novelty therefore we cannot without trembling and perplexity of mind entertain a thought of a change and of innovation in a matter of so high concernment For if the design go on we shall be reduced to such a desperate condition that we shall not know how to settle our selves or form our obedience in such distractions and sometimes repugnancies of commands as will unavoidably ensue 2. What they then felt in part since this Government is traduced and despised the Houses of God are profaned the Ministers of Christ contemned the Liturgy depraved that absolute model the Lord's Prayer vilified the Sacraments in some places unduly administred in others profanely neglected Marriages illegally solemnized Burials uncharitably performed and the very fundamentals of our Religion by the publication of a new Creed teaching the abrogation of the moral Law All the Religion we can hope for must be a movable Creed repealable by privileges and to be made suitable to the designs of any prevailing Faction whereby God is provoked his sacred Majesty dishonoured the Consciences of the people disquieted the Ministery disheartned and the Enemies of the Church emboldned in their enterprizes 6. We cannot hearken to such a change because for many years we have found the comfort and benefit of Episcopacy which as it hath been eminently serviceable to this Kingdom so it is most compliable with the civil Government into the Fabrick whereof it is incorporate that we must conclude it as the most pious so the most safe and prudent Wherefore to call it a Vassalage and intolerable burthen and thereupon to endeavour its removal relisheth not of piety prudence justice or charity This we are the rather induced to present both because our Fathers have told us of the great convenience and moderation of this Government and we have felt the comfortable experience thereof Certain it is this Kingdom is much indebted to the Bishops for their piety wisedom zeal and sufferings which we trust shall never be forgotten Thus far they It may not be amiss to subjoyn the later opinion of a great name with the Erastians who once indeed had declared before he was no such fool as to be a Puritan yet it is well known how c. but at last was forced to express his great esteem of Catholick Order The words are reported Fair Warning Part. 2. p. 4. and thus are set out It is a wonderfull thing that c. after that passage he gives his opinion I should much fear that our most excellent Religion so miserably confounded by its distracted followers would one day give place to the two grand mischiefs of the world Popery and Profaneness against which there are no other remedies besides the mercifull assistence of heaven than sound Doctrine settled severe Discipline established a decent and holy Worship secured and a grand establishment enjoyned which may fence in truth and virtue and keep out errour and sin whereby the Orthodox good part of the Nation may be known and encouraged as the Heterodox may be discovered and awed SECT 4. The little good which can be expected from Presbyterianism and Independency is that the Professours of the one Sect
on my forehead the banner of the Cross The custome then being ancient and innocent because observed in the best times it ought to be retained and for its better observation be enjoyned by authority certainly not laid aside to gratifie humorous people 3. As for kneeling at the receiving of the holy Sacrament though there be not so clear a constat yet this is plain the Ancients used the same gesture they did at prayer which never was that of sitting which neither in it self hath nor in the esteem of the Ancients ever had any thing of reverence Tert. de Orat. c. 12. protests against it and Amesius c. 18. de Consc p. 191. rejects it because not expressive of reverence nor approved in Scripture Now kneeling was the ordinary custome Euseb l. 8. c. 5 8. standing was at particular times and places which they used as a significant Ceremony yet when they stood they bowed the body after the manner of worshipping which is sufficiently proved by that received rule Nemo manducat c. Let none communicate but he who first adores so that ordinarily they kneeled when they received and when they did not they worshipped The best reformed Churches use kneeling and the best learned of those who do not acknowledge it a gesture of humility and reverence which where it is constituted ought to be uniformly observed The Genevians in their Annot. on the harmony of Confessions are well content every particular Church should use her liberty in such cases particularly they make mention of kneeling at the Communion and use of all such Ceremonies as now are observed by the Lutherans Copes Organs c. and had been used before by Papists Annot. Sect. 14. Obs 4. ad Confes Bohem As an upshot to this when an English fugitive Separatist proposed his Thesis de Adiaphoris at Geneva he could not be permitted to discuss them The whole may be drawn up in this order Ceremonies are lawfull things some of this kind are expedient these expedients ought to be significant these may and occasionally ought to be imposed these so imposed are to be observed and those we practise caeteris paribus are to be settled rather than any other because thereby we honour our first Reformers we obey our lawfull Superiours we keep up our alliance with other reformed Churches sure with the chiefest and best and which is more we hold a firm correspondence with the primitive and present Catholick Church CHAP. VI. AS for the observation of Holidays the Grandees of the Sectarians seemed once willing to admit Festivals provided they were not called Holidays which was nothing else in them but a silly sour singularity and morosity for more learned and much better men than they never scrupled at the name Mr. Perkins Demonst Problem p. 232. n. 6. asserts this Holy they are not in and for themselves but for the holy duties then performed to God Dr. Rivet in Ex. 20. p. 167. declares A relative holiness belongeth to them and they might very properly be called Holidays ratione finis in respect to their ends and uses being separated for holy exercises So they were constituted and observed in the primitive Church S. Chrys Hom. in Ascen hath assured us The Catholick Church observed six recurring anniversary Solemnities in memory of Christ's Nativity Epiphany Passion Resurrection Ascension and mission of the Holy Ghost The matter of fact is notorious In the Reign of Dioclesian an 294. and by the Greek Menology on the twenty fifth of December the Christians assembled to commemorate the Birth of our Lord whereof the Emperour having received intelligence commanded the doors of the Church to be shut and fire set to it which soon consumed both them and it Julian in an hellish design joyned with the Christians in their publick Assembly on the sixth of January called the Epiphany The Festival for it 's called by Phil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Fast of our Saviour's Passion was solemnly celebrated and that from long custome Eus l. 2. c. 16. The dispute so early started about the time of the observation of Easter puts that beyond dispute Just Mart. Resp ad Orthod 115. speaks of its being kept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Apostles time Euseb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. Eus l. 5. c. 23 24 25. and S. Aug. Ep. 119 ex authoritate Scripturarum universae Ecclesiae consensione The Ancients called Ascension Tessaracostae Scal. de Emend Temp. many are their Homilies on that day Conc. Elib c. 43. treats of Whitsuntide as an ancient Solemnity censuring all those who neglect it as Hereticks The matter of fact is backed with a good reason For if the primitive Christians were strict in the observation of the Birth-days as they were called but indeed Death-days of the Martyrs we cannot imagine they would be forgetfull fo the joyfull days wherein the Lord and the Lord of the Martyrs begun continued and perfected the work of the Redemption of mankind But evident it is those days were religiously observed S. Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 6. expressed his great care and zeal those commemorations and solemn Offices should not be slurred Rivet in Ex. 20. p. 154. saith Ratio postulat c. Reason requires that not onely certain days but sufficient be retained even as many as the right constitution safety good of the Church and the glory of God requires For we being exonerated from the Jewish yoke may have more ought not have fewer days for the service of God than they had but they had more than one in seven some whereof were of humane institution This he confirms p. 163. Quod de die c. that which was expresly said of the Seventh-day by analogy and parity of reason respects any day which the Church hath appointed and in common use hath observed for holy Meetings whereupon all Interpreters do conceive not onely the Lord's day but all other lawfully instituted Festivals are comprehended under the Fourth Commandment But a good word from Geneva may doe more service than all other authorities and reasons Hear a whole gang of Genevians at once Every Church may use her liberty in observing Ember-days and Holidays consecrated to the godly memory of the Saints Annot. in Harm Confess Sect. 16. Obs 1. ad Conf. Boh. and retain the use of singing Christian Hymns and Songs upon the Holidays Obs 2. Zanch. in Expl. c. 2. ad Col. so far approves them that though he thinks there is no absolute necessity for them yet there is a profitable necessity in their due observation Bishop Dav. in his exposition of the same words hath furnished us with three substantial reasons who will may consider them CHAP. VII THE last which is opposed is the Doctrine of the Church exemplified in the Book of Articles The Independent Sophi hath expressed so great kindness for 36 of them that by his Verdict woe be to him that shall dispute them no less correction will satisfie his tender Conscience than exile but away
held forth They are to submit their Sceptres c. which by his reference to Isa 49. 23. is in plain English to say They are to lick the dust of the Presbyters feet and kiss their toes In an 1605. a Club of them protested The Magistrate needs not respect Law he may dispense with it or favourably interpret it sure enough for their sakes but if he practise it where they are not concerned then the cry goes he attempts an arbitrary Government their liberty property and Religion lies at hap hazard Sometimes the Law is a Bulwark to fence out Tyranny on a sudden its an humane invention and God's people must order their lives according to God's word and doe the work of their heavenly Father Now they have so great reverence for Oaths they are not free to take them anon they will glibly down with them and again vomit them and Apologize for the violation of them no Oaths can bind the Conscience against the Reformation England's Reprover p. 158. and the Oaths we have taken must not be examined according to the interpretations of men so Marshal foreman of Smect and Brother Downing O false Lads who can play at fast and loose with their Consciences which are so very tender that they can bend and bow to every opportunity of advantage If they have no interest to serve or can maintain and keep it without conformity they must not conform for a world but if the loss of Offices of trust or profit or hopes of gain to themselves or advantage to the Cause fall into their view they can submit and perform what is required in the 25th Car. II. Time was when the thirteenth to the Romans was onely safe counsel or a politickly contrived Ordinance when King was the King in his Courts not in his person and the damnation threatned was lying in Prison or suffering on a Gibbet The case is soon altered with the times and then upon every revolution Saint Paul spake no longer like a Statesman but as a Casuist not in point of prudence but Conscience first to the Patriots then to the Keepers then to Noll in all which changes damnation was changed from loss or bondage into wrath to come and eternal vengeance For a long time their talk was of Providence and their successes first their cause was God's cause which he would prosper for their sakes his People his fecret Ones and for his promises whereof they had a large stock in the Old Testament and the Revelations this had a strong smack of prophaneness then God prospered their cause therefore it was God's cause a pure Mahometan conclusion now that its at a loss the note is and mark it I beseech you God in the ways of his Providence towards us walks in the dark the good people must unite till the day appears and the good hour comes in the mean time let us make our appeals to God as the Newcastle Conventicling Doctour Gilpin held forth an 1671. and be very carefull that our zeal to God be not interrupted by our duty to the King but above all be free to support your painfull pretious Preachers that we want not tongues and hands for the old cause They constantly condemn that in others which is their common practice Monopolies were once a grievance yet the Drivers were very liberal in their Grants of such to their officious tools King's Declaration Aug. 12. 1642. and in his Declaration concerning the Treaty at Oxford They made an hideous hubbub that subscription to some Articles of peace was required of those that pretended a desire to take upon them the ministerial Function yet they themselves were rigid exactours in the like case They scorn all the Canons and Constitutions of the Church as the Precepts of men but every one at his peril must submit to the orders of their Synods They fiercely inveigh against Impositions Oh! they are apt to whet humane nature very humble patient men they the mean time to wild and forbidden courses This looks not onely like a charge against the Government but a threatning too yet these murmurers against lawfull authority interdicted the Common-Prayer-Book by penalties from five pounds to ten c. and obtruded the Directory by a penalty from five pounds to fifty and that Imposition of July 25. 1684. was at once both Antiehristianly traiterous and tyrannical They tartly tax the Romanists justly enough as to the matter of the charge for clipping and cutting the Tongues of their Writers yet most unjustly because hypocritically as to themselves who use the same craft That most perspicuous passage of Calvin in his Epistle to Cardinal Sadolet wherein he declareth They deserve to be anathematized who reject Episcopacy where it may be retained which is really to pronounce an Anathema on all our English Sectaries is quite purged out in the two latter Editions of Beza and Gellasius This was discovered by the Right Reverend and learned Authour of that Treatise called The Serpent Salve p. 220. What was to be found in the Argentorate Edition of Bucer is left out in the Geneva as Grotius enforms us The Authour of the Friendly Debate par 2. p. 404. hath detected the like fraud in corrupting Dr. Sibbs's Treatise called The Souls Conflict The words of John Careless in reference to the Common-Prayer-Book at his examination by Dr. Martin were exemplified in the first Edition of Acts and Monuments fol. 1531. which in the second Edition by the Legerdemain of the then Puritans were not to be found so in the Edition which I had and carefully searched I could not find what Dr. Hammond View of the Directory p. 17. relates of John Hullier to the same purpose which makes me suspect some Sectarian Hocus in that also That they corrupted the last Books of Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Policy may probably be concluded from what we find reported in the Book called The Life of Hugh Peters and lastly that when the Book of the Thirty Nine Articles was printed they procured the Twentieth viz. That the Church hath power c. to be left out If it were certainly known what their design was in the Tickets which were dispatched into the several Counties before Saint Bartholomew 1662. their hypocrisie would be so laid open that no Apology could be made Thus much I know it was to assure their inferiour sort of Ministers that with their good leave they might comply and conform and if they prevailed in the design they were then carrying on notwithstanding their present compliance they would favourably entertain and as it should happen prefer them Num. 3. They are a singular Sect divided from the whole visible Church and every particular regularly formed Church throughout the whole Christian world This we are sure if they lived in any such Church and acted there in opposition to their established Forms and Rites they would be concluded unsufferable Schismaticks and be more sharply handled than here they are or have been They are true Ishmaelites Ishmael
the seventy Disciples which were not empty Titles but had distinct Offices the former not onely invested with dignities above the other but with power over them as appears by the Election of Matthias Now Christ was entrusted with the Keys Isa 22. 22. and honoured with the Sceptre Psal 45. 6. God committing the Government to him as the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls 1 Pet. 2. 25. having the Key of David Rev. 3. 7. This he ordered by an immutable Law which neither could expire or be repealed For all power was given to him both in Heaven and Earth Matt. 28. 18. a power not onely to protect but to rule the Church not onely to rule the Consciences of its Members but externally to order and administer it as a publick Society a power to rule in himself or by Proxy and Delegates therefore it follows in the exhibition thereof that charge Go ye c. v. 19. without demurr or dispute For I have the power to commission you and do command you to execute it I have received it from my Father thus to exercise that power and empower you and to it I was solemnly consecrated by the descent of the Holy Ghost as S. Luke expresseth it Act. 10. 38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power which at least imports thus much As by the ceremony of anointing God promoted persons to high Dignities and Offices so Christ was regularly advanced to his prelatical Function to be the first and chief Bishop in the Christian Church from whose fulness all others were to receive grace for grace Num. 2. Christ having performed this Office in person took care that after his Ascension into Heaven the holy Apostles should succeed him whom he separated for this Office and over and above authorised them to depute and substitute others to keep the succession of Rulers This he consigned and passed over to them Luk. 22. 29. I appoint you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed me Accordingly at the octaves of his Resurrection he both confirmed them Joh. 20. 21. As my Father hath sent me even so I send you and also consecrated them by that solemn Form ever since observed in the Catholick Church either in terms or words equivalent Receive ye the Holy Ghost This fully conserred on them the habitual power which actually they were not licensed to exercise till as he was they were authorized by the descent of the Holy Ghost and endued with power Luk. 24. 49. which happened soon after his Ascension Eph. 4. 11. when he took off this suspension and at Pentecost sent the promise of the Father upon them the Comforter Joh. 15. 26. the Holy Ghost Act. 1. 8. And so they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire which sate upon each of them Act. 2. 3. that every of them might be a respective Plenipotentiary in the Administration of his Kingdom This sitting of the Fire upon each of them as it destroyeth the Erastian Supposition for the Apostles were neither Civilians nor common Lawyers or Statesmen so it prejudgeth both the Papal and Presbyterian pretensions The Papal because it sate not upon one S. Peter which might have entitled him to a Jurisdiction over the rest but upon each of them that what power one of them had all and each of them had For before Christ had warranted to them twelve Thrones for every Apostle one Matt. 19. 28. as Camero hath observed that every one might enjoy the same entire authority and supremacy The Presbyterian because it sate not upon all as fellow Collegues or Common-council-men but as so many single Persons not that they could not or did not for a time act jointly but that it sate upon all and every of them so that the power was granted to them jointly and severally whereupon when they took their circuits to their several apartments they severally exercised their Function and Office Bullinger's conjecture is We have no Canonical Records of the Government of the Church but in the Acts of the Apostles where the Platform is described and exemplified in the person of S. Paul from whose example and practice we are to conclude how the rest of the Apostles first planted and then governed the Church Bul. part 2. Epit. Tempor rerum Tab. 6. de Apostal c. But evident it is S. Paul acted as a single person without any dependence upon all or any of the Twelve Therefore if this observation hold all the rest planted and governed severally if this fail the state and condition of their employment will enforce it For if they depended after the College was broken up upon any one or the whole Community they could not effectually have executed their Commission because upon every exigent especially when they removed from one Province to another they must have had the consent of that one or the whole to license and authorize them which was utterly impossible to obtain For they then being dispersed into several Regions of great distance one from another they must give up their work till at every occasion they had received orders whether to undertake and how to manage it Very few or none of them knew where to find S. Peter if they did they had no Post-office to transmit and return expresses and the College after it was dissolved never assembled again Impossible therefore it was for them to execute their Commission validly under those circumstances unless each of them had been a Plenipotentiary by the tenour thereof Num. 3. As Christ invested the Apostles with this power in a due subordination to himself so they in virtue of his investiture were to constitute others to succeed them in the principals thereof Confessedly the Apostolical Office was to reside in the Church for ever So J. O. Independ Catech. p. 119. and the ordained by them were of the same Order with them so WÃ lo p. 43 44 144. upon which account the title of Apostles was allowed in Scripture to many of those whom the Apostles had separated for the work of the Ministery Calvin speaks faintly to the point on 1 Cor. 4. 9. Tales interdum vocat Apostolos malo tamen c. yet at last he comes off more frankly telling us plainly who those us Apostles last were Qui in ordinem Apostolicum post Christi Resurrectionem asciti fuerunt As Apollo Sylvanus Pisc c. is very liberal S. Paul gave them this title Eo quod eodem munere fungerentur Saint James was ordained Bishop of Jerusalem by the Apostles in the nineteenth of Tiberius saith Blondel in Chron. p. 43. the next year after Christ's Ascension by his account which in his censure of the Pontifical Epistles he affirms from all antiquity and Walo p. 20. assures us he was none of the Twelve yet he is called an Apostle Gal. 1. 19. which Blondel Apol. pro sent Hier. p. 50. thus confirms Saint Matthew the Apostle was a Bishop and Saint James the Bishop was called
an Apostle the Apostles as Governours over their Plantations were called Bishops and Bishops with respect to the ministerial Mission were called Apostles Timothy and Titus saith Walo p. 44. were styled Apostles but in very truth were Bishops by the same right and of the same order that those are of this day who govern the Church and have authority over Presbyters This he undertakes to prove p. 62. Bishops hold the chief degree in Ecclesiastical Order as heretofore they did who were called Apostles but the Apostles and the Presbyter-Bishops were of a distinct Order as he labours to assert from Act. 15. 6. 22 23. in these words Tunc dicebatur in Conciliis ex utroque ordine compositis c. Then it was said of the Council moulded up of both Orders that of the Apostles and that of the Presbyters id p. 269. This he seconds with an observation from the Greek Interpreters p. 26 27. who concluded the Apostles were of an higher dignity than the Presbyters fairly resolving with them they were several Orders p. 269. and that Ordination could not be common to both p. 229. Cast all this together viz. The Order of the Apostles was of higher dignity than that of Presbyters the Apostles then were in truth Bishops these Bishops had command over the Presbyters they were distinct Orders all this in the Age of the Apostles and that Ordination could not be common to both the result will be there was then a disparity in Church Officers the identity of Name will not conclude an identity in Office Presbyters were under the Jurisdiction of Bishops to them and them onely Ordination appertained which is to assert from Scripture Diocesan Bishops in the Prelatists sense Calvin and Beza acknowledge there is a Subordination of many Ministers to one President by Divine appointment hoc fert natura c. This we have from nature the disposition of men requires it So Cal. l. 4. Inst c. 6. sect 8. It was it is and ever will be necessary ex Ordinatione Dei perpetua by the perpetual Ordinance of God there be one President So Beza defen p. 153. But hath this President any power yea a double power first regendae communis actionis jus to govern the common action summon Presbyters appoint time and place and propose matters c. The second is by authority to execute what is decreed by common consent Cal. l. 4. Inst c. 4. sect 2. But is he not capable of a standing power yea he may receive a farther latitude from the positive Laws of men who without any violation of Divine Ordinance may settle it on one man for his life For either in the days of the Apostles or immediately after the Episcopal Office became elective and perpetual to one man Quod certè reprehendi nec potest nec debet Bez. defens p. 141. inde But is not the application hereof merely humane No not wholly humanum non simpliciter tamen sed c. I may call it humane not simply but comparatively without any injury to the Fathers or so many Churches In good time The consectary of this if I mistake not is to reject this Presidentiary-power as such is repugnant to God's Ordinance to reject it upon the form of application is an injury to the Fathers and many Churches It is necessary from nature and the Divine Institution and the fixing of it in one person for life to distinct acts and purposes is Apostolical either in the Apostles Age or immediately thereupon and is Catholick ever since Very right for the conceit of a successive annual Presidency held by turns is both novel never any Church for 1500 years received it and also particular those who after did are so few that 500 for one have opposed it All antiquity hath avouched several persons whose names are found in the Scriptures to have been Bishops These names following are in the Scripture and Ancients of undoubted credit have averred them for Bishops as 1. James sirnamed the Just to have been Bishop of Jerusalem we have Blondel's Testimony for this from antiquity 2. Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus the Post-scripts which Beza saith were to be seen in all the Manuscripts he could meet with of the Epistles directed to him which if authentick strongly prove this if they be suspected these great names will make it good Epiph. Hier. Chrys Aug. Doroth. in Synop. who lived in Dioclesian's time Euseb l. 3. Eccl. Hist c. 4. to whose authorities Bucer in 4. ad Ephes Pellican in 1 Tim. 1. Zwinglius de Eccles and Walo as before is cited have subscribed but that which fully clears it is that the Fathers assembled in Council at Chalcedon have witnessed that untill their time twenty seven Bishops had successively sate at Ephesus from Timothy where it was granted so many there were though it was disputed whether all of them in that time were ordained at Ephesus or some of them ordained at Constantinople 3. Titus was Bishop Prelate of Crete as the Scripture declareth Tit. 1. where the two claimed Prelatical powers are found to be settled on him that of Ordination vers 5. in every City of that Territory or Region and that of Jurisdiction in the same verse to set in order the things that are wanting or left undone as we translate the words but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may rightly be rendred Correct things out of order which supposeth a power to censure and reform irregularities The voice of Antiquity is clear here Theod. Hier. Chrys the Scholiast c. of both of them we have good warranty for their authority over the Clergy S. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 3. besought Timothy to send out a prohibition against false teachers and he commanded Titus sharply to rebuke vain talkers and deceivers and if they will prate on to stop their mouths and to silence them Titus 1. 11 12 13. 4. Onesimus spoken of Col. 4. 9. and Philem. 10. was from a Servant to S. Paul advanced to be Deacon Hier. advers er Joh. Hier. and from a Deacon to be Bishop Euseb l. 3. c. 30. 5. Linus mentioned 2 Tim. 4. 21. and Clemens Phil. 4. 3. were Bishops of Rome by universal Tradition Diodate upon these words my yoke-fellow and fellow-labourer notes The Apostle here speaks to the chief Pastour who was to reade the Epistles directed to him in the publick Assembly Bidel Exerc. in Ign. Ep. c. 3. is very clear Clemens after the death of Linus and Cletus being the onely survivor alone retained the name of Bishop all others being styled barely Presbyters for which he assigns these reasons First for that he alone remained of all the fellow-la-bourers with the Apostles Secondly because the distinction of Bishops and Presbyters then prevailed This was in the Apostles times for Clemens was Bishop of Rome an 94. as Gualt reckons in his Chronol when Simon the Canaanite was living as Bulling thinks in his Annot. in Tab. 6. certainly S. John was for he died not till an