Apostle doth abundantly determine the moderatorship in his favours 3. If a Minister who is the Pastor and teacher of the whole flock do preside amongst the Elders of a secondarie order joined to him for his assistance will it therefore follow that one Minister should fixedly preside over many in the same order with himself and equally concerned in all the affaires of the meeting What Logick can knit together such inferences Having thus demonstrat from Scripture-prâ—cepts and practices and firme rational conclusions thence deducted the command of our parity with the warrantableness of our Courts and all their gradations I am very confident that we do thereby fully satisfie all the obligation to bring a clear command for these judicatories and their subordinations which our affirming them to be of unquestionable divine right institutions undoubtedly flowing â—rom the Kingdom of Iesus Christ in his Church and the only lawful government thereof do lay upon us As for what the author alledgeth against us that we do affirme them to be the very Kingdom of Christ upon Earth and the absoâ—utely necessary aswel as only lawful government of the Christian Church what ever tumor may appear in such expressions over and above the account I have given of the matter it is his own devising on purpose contrived that he may represent us as high talkers above the asserters of other forms and yet we not only know that the commenders of Episcopacie as the only true ancient Apostolick government of the Church do speak at as high a rate to say no more but that their acting in its behalfe doth indeed surpass all other measures I am certain will easily be by all acknowledged who consider how Presbyterie is the only butt against which their malice persecution is levelled and that into this malice all the zeal they ought to have against poperie profanity atheisme and irreligion seems to be converted which stirring activity may also in this same Author who being in his Ministrie rather a recluse monastick is for its sake become a very busie Prelate most obviously be instanced Now as by the grounds which I have adduced for our Presbyterian paritie the contrary repugnancy to Scripture rules of a fixed presidencie is sufficiently held out so I would gladly know from what shadow of probabilitie the Scripture agreeablenesse thereof is by our Author asserted For my part unlesse it be in the instance of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diotriphes I know not where the least vestige of it is to be found And therefore I say in the next place in opposition to the second point affirmed vizâ— the non-contrariety and agreeablenesse of this Episcopus praeses to the example of the primitive Church that though in the second and third Centuries of the Church this Prostasia could be more evidently discovered yet seeing the better pattern of the more pure and ancient times do hold out no such thing but an equal paritie among the Elders or Overseers Bishops of the Church of God levelled by humilitie and ordered by love and concord and that this Presidencie did in its tendencie and progresse become the rise not only of aspiring Prelacie but of the monstrous Papacy it is evident that it is a meer humane invention equally unwarrantable and dangerous And here I might show how little light we have even in the acknowledgment of some of our Adversaries from History or any other pure and credible Record of the Churches constitution in the Centuries mentioned and that the more near to the dayes of the Apostles and more uncorrupted any such testimony is found as that of Clemens and Ireneus for as for Ignatius Epistles even these of them that are of the best repute I am sure no impartial Reader who considers either the worth of the person or the simplicitie of the times or the stile suitable to both will judge them to be from such an Author the more they homologat with Scripture in the Synonomie of Bishop and Presbyter and the samenesse of the office thereby signified And I might also make it appear how that â—or all the alteration and advance made towards Prelacie in the succeeding Centuries yet the Fathers in these times chiefly Ierom did affirme the same truth of the Apostolick times and the Age immediatly succeeding But as I am too well perswaded that pride was the first and most subtile and active corruption that did invade the Church so I can very easily grant that a Protocathedria was thereby very early either occasioned or usurped and therefore omitting to insist how that partly by designe of the ambitious partly by mistake against the factious it seemeth to have been introduced I shall rather endeavour by a few observes so to discover the evill of its rise and its worse tendencies that in this above all all men may perceive the perinciousness of humane inventions how specious soever when superadded to Gospel truth and simplicitie And first I say that the alledgeance made for this prostasia as conducing much to order and the cure of divisioâ—s in so far as it respects its fixednesse is a vaine emptie pretense for seeing this fixednesse as such importeth no more then the suspending of the more certain change of an annual or other termly election unto that more uncerâ—ain one of term of life and that sometimes this latâ—er may notwithsâ—anding happen to be more frequent then the foâ—mer it is obvious to any mans calme and serious reflection that it is meerly to the presidencie and not at all to this controverted qualitie in itself considered that the advantages commended can be ascribed And therefore as it is certain that the concerne of order being once duely provided for by a sutable moderation the more obnoxious the person moderating is to the suffrage of the Society the lesse hazard of an ensuing abuse or usurpation So it is very evident that this superfluous fixedness importing a certain degree of exemption could only in the end prove a foment of pride and gratification of ambition as the event it self to plainly verifies of which if any man do yet doubt let him consider Romes Papacy that under this pretense fortified by Ierom's testimony Cuncti nempe Apostoli claves regni caelorum accipiunt tamen inter duodecem unus eligitur ut capite constiâ—uto schismatis tollatur occasio did not only arrogat to it self the Primacie but to this day doth thereby vail its Tyrrannie I grant that power is a soveraign antidot against contentions and divisions But if we measure it out by our own wisdom with a regard only to this exigence neither respecting the Lords warrant nor the sufficiencie of gifts and countenance of his blessing it is very manifest that this rule may quickly lead us to surmount the Papacie and its implicite faith and never suffer us to cease until by an absolute subjection both Truth Conscience be swallowed up of ignorance and stupidity Let us therefore above all things in the
the present Presbyteries and Synods I clearly state the Question thus Whether a constant Moderator or fixed Proeslos for terme of life in Church-meetings be a thing in it self lawful And how far it is by us admissible And what complyance we may have â—or it And because there are some papers gone abroad from the Bishop of Glasgow as is supposed upon this subject and that the current of the speeches at Pasely wereof the same strain I conceive for rendering of the debate more certain it will not be amisse that I bring them to a particular and exact review And in the beginning of these Papers we find it asserted That Episcopal Government managed in conjunction with Presbyters in Presbyteries and Synods is not contrary either to the rule of Scripture or the example of the primitive Church but agreeable to both That this position doth hold forth no more then the lawfulness of an Episcopus Praeses that upon negative grounds giving the asserter the easier part of defence is obvious to the first observation To have affirmed an obligation to this model though the Author's choise had not been convenient the thing which hath been it is that which shall be and an agreeablenesse to Scripture and antiquitie is for the time a very colourable pretension and all that the Author dare adventure to affirme But that as much may be said for a Presbyterian paritie exclusive of this presidencie I think our adversaries themselves will not deny And it is very evident that it is the thing they have no inclination to redargue Which advantage lying equally and fairly on our side and being confirmed by possession strengthned by an Oath and to the present conviction of all mostly arising from the contrary effects of Episcopacie sealed with the seal of good Gospel fruits one of the great evidences produced by Paul for his Apostelship how much it doth impugne the late change and justifie the aversion and non-compliance of all good men therewith all rational men may discerne But seeing our cause is not as theirs leaning only to negative probalities and the power wherewith it is supported to deal clearly in this matter though we do not pretend to a positive expresse and particular Scripture-precept as well against the presidencie as for the parity pleaded yet that we have an equivalent divine warrant more pregnant then what in other particulars is acknowledged for such even by our Opposites The following heads do plainly evince And first That Iesus Christ King in Zion sitting and ruling upon His Throne to whom all Power is given and who is the Head of the Body when He ascended on high sent forth His Apostles to gather feed and rule His Church promising to be with them to the end of the World and thereby hath appointed a Government in His house suitable to these holy ends for which it is designed is not more evidently founded upon the Scripture-grounds insinuat then firme in its connexion and inference 2. As the Apostles and their Successors were the only perpetual Pastors ordained by our Lord for as for the mission of the Seventy what ever allusions after Ages according to their then model did draw from it without all peradventure accòrding to is own tenour it did expire before our Lords suffering so they were by him constitute in an exact paritie as Brethren and because of this equality and the nature of their Ministrie our Lord forbids among them all distinction of authoritative Superioritie the very name of Rabbi and Master then abused and all ambition affectation of these or any other elating dignities and titles but they are only commanded to outstripe and exceed on another in that diligence and humilitie recommended to them in that common service whereunto they were destined 3. According to this command given so they conversed and behaved in the Church of God without the least vestige of imparity either in power or presidencie Nay on the contrary with a manifest equality except it be in some notes of apparent preheminence in these by men esteemed inferior expresly as it seems recorded to counter-ballance the vanity of ambition of after Ages who in favour of others might imagine a Superiority And such are the principal resort made to Iames his moderating rather then Peters in the meeting at Ierusalem Pauls resistance to Peter and the right hand of fellowship given to him by Iames Cephas and Iohn and the like 4. The pastors appointed by the Appostles being their successors both in their ordinarie power and blessing whatever might be the inequalitie betwixt them and the Appostles either from the immediacy and extent of the Apostles their mission their infallible assistance and greater eminency of gifts or by reason that the Apostles were the Lords chosen witnesses and authors of conversion to most of them whom they ordained yet as to the perpetual and ordinary power given to and transmitted by them in the Church it is evident from Scripture that in that they neither claimed nor exercised either superiority or presidencie over other Ministers Hence it is that as they call and account them their brethren partners fellow-labourers and themselves fellow-elders with them so we finde that what in on place Paul ascribes to the laying on of his own hands in another he attributes to the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterie And the same Paul who was not a whit behind the very chiefest Appostles receiving a solemn mission from a Presbyterie not consisting of Fellow-apostles but of other Prophets and Teachers Gifts there fore were indeed diverse and unequal and imploiments also were various in the dayes of the Apostles according to the then exigence of a growing spreading Church but that either among the Apostles themselves or them and the Pastors by them ordained or among the Pastors themselves there was the least imparity in respect of that ordinarie and standing power continued in the Church as the passages mentioned do plainly confirme the negative so there can no instance be adduced from Scripture in the contrary We know Timothie Titus the Angels of the Churches are much talked of as the first superior Bishops and to this it is as easily reponed 1. That there is nothing enjoyned or recommended in Pauls Epistles to Timothie which is not proper for every Pastor unlesse what is evidently referable to his office of an Evangelist there expressed 2. The command given to Titus to ordain Elders was by way of expresse commission and not in the least exclusive of the concurrence of other Elders where they might be found in the place 3 That it is in these very Epistles more then any where els in Scripture that both the names of Bishops and Elders are promiscuously used and the thing and office thereby signified held forth to be the same And lastly that the known use elegancie of the singular number for the plural with the figurative speech and tenor of the seven Epistles in the Revelation do no
more allow the Angels representing the Pastors then the Stars signifying the same thing nay or the Candlesticks the Churches to be taken for single persons But for further clearing of all these and like objections I referr the Reader to the many Authors by whom these things are more fully handled These grounds then being all undoubtedlâ— Scriptural with what confidence can it be demanded where doth the Scripture hold out a paritie among Ministers Or how can it be affirmed that the Episcopus Praeses contended for specially with his necessary presence in Ordination as we will afterwards hear is not contrary but agreeable to the word of God By all which it appears that as our Presbyterian paritie is plainly warranted both by general Gospel-rules and very expresse instances contained in Scripture So the apparent lawfulness of any other form of mans devising can be no justification thereof But it is objected If this ground be rejected how will we maintain or where will we finde an expresse command or rule for our own model of Kirk-sessions Presbyteries Syonds Provincial and National with a Commission of the Kirk in their several dependencies and subordinations and the changing of the moderator in these meetings excepting that only of the Kirk-sessions wherein the Minister doth constantly moderat for without this expresse Kule a Bishop or fixed President may very well consist with that frame which we contenâ— for And it is really and actually so at this present in this Church In answering this objection I must begin with its latter part which is so directly contradicted by the present constitution both in its legal establishment and known exercise as I have already proven that I marvel how it could escape any person of ordinary understanding As for the main thing objected having from the Scripture asserted the warrant of our parity its difficulty is easily satisfied for seeing that by Divine institution the Church is erected into one Society and officers in an equal parity for its oversight and Government thereto appointed And seeing that in every concession the things natural and proper to what is conceded must be understood to be therein imported the libertie and power of common counsel together with the subordination of the parts to the whole do thence necessarily result The premisses of which argument being so consistently composed of Scripture and reason thereon dependent I need not here enlarge in any explication Sure I am he who duely perpendeth these uncontrovertible Scripture-truths That the Church is gathered into one body that the Apostles together the Pastors and Elders together are incharged with its oversight and rule that the Spirit of the Prophets is subject unto the Prophets and that where two or three are gathered together in the Lords Name there he is in the midst of them It is impossible he should remain doubtful of the Divine warrant and authority of our meetings Conforme to which truths and principles we not only finde in the Acts of the Apostles the Church governed by common counsel but the same Meetings and Councels inspired and directed by that humilitie love and harmonie that no more then a chair man for the time no sixed moderator can therein be discerned If these grounds were not both solidly and evidently conclusive of all necessarie for me to prove I might easily without either worming or straining as our moderatists phrase it adduce and make out from Scripture precedents more exactly correspondent to our formes But seeing the right and Priviledge of common Counsel for Government in order both to the whole and certain of the partsâ— is by Scripture-practiâ—e obviously held forth its extension to all the parts and their â—ubordination to the whole doth so naturally and necessarily â—ollow thaâ— I judge it superfluous to engadge my self further into our adversaries scrupulous quiblings Now as for the Commission of the Kirk whereof Scripture warrant is also required seeing we do not hold it to be an ordinarie Church-judicatorie but do only regard it as a delegation from the preceeding National-assembly elicit by extraordinary exigences and precisely accountable to the next ensuing It s right is so certainly parallel to that of every Committee appointed by any meeting for dispatch that unlesse it were alledged that this power of commissionating is by Scripture inhibite it must of necessity be understood to be founded in the same warrant with the Assemblies from which it doth flow receive its conâ—irmation I contend not but our observance in practice might have had its own failings in this point but seeing the excesse in this matter if any was did probably flow from the mistake of a suppoâ—sed expediencie the evidence of its warrant and right use by such and error in fact cannot at all be impugned But the ministers their being constantly moderators in Kirk-sessions among the Elders joyned with them for Discipline is that wich our adversaries do urge as a great advantage for proving the lawfulness of the fixed Moderator in Presbyteries and Synods and our inconsequence in denying the same In the fond conceit of which argument it hath been and is so frequently by them inculcat that here is a Presbyter having a fixed presidencie among presbyters that I am sure it may â—ustly nauseat or move to laughter any indifferent observer To begin therefore with this childish emphasis taken from the terme Presbyter and the calling of the minister and parochial-elders both of them presbyters such indeed they are but seeing the scripture doth warrant the office of our Ruling Elder also attributeth several other names to Ministers agreeable to the main labour and to these Parochial Elders only that of Presbyters or Elders and yet on the other hand the classical Assemblies principally consisting of Ministers are commonly called Presbyteries If use for distinction hath appropriat to these Parochial-elders the name of Elders rather then that of Presbyters what folly is it to think that a contrary usurpation of names can be of any import or wherefore do not our adversaries if they have such a complaisance for these conceits tell us further what a qstrange thing it is to see a Presbyterie for so a Kirck-session may well be termed consisting only of one Minister and all the rest Laiks as they speak and withal reflect upon these more pungent retorsions nearer Home viz. that in their way a Bishop pretends to a-Superiority or presidencie over many Bishops and a single Presbyter must have the preheminence over his Fellow-presbyters But leaving these fopperies and taking words according to the determination of custome in such cases in answer to what is material in the objection I say 1. That where there are two Ministers in a parish they moderat in the Session by turnes 2 Where the Session doth consist of one Minister both a preaing and a ruling Elder and the other Elders of the Congregation who are but his helpers in discipline his different quality with the double honour allowed to him by the