New Testament where to be a Presbyter is never reckoned either as a distinct Office or a distinct order but indifferently communicated to all the Superior Clergy and all the Princes of the people II. The second thing I intended to say is this that although all the superior Clergy had not onely one but divers common appellatives all being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Apostolate it self being called a Deaconship yet it is evident that before the common appellations were fixt into names of propriety they were as evidently distinguished in their offices and powers as they are at this day in their Names and Titles To this purpose St. Paul gave to Titus the Bp. of Crete a special commission command and power to make Ordinations and in him and in the person of Timothy he did erect a Court of Judicature even over some of the Clergy who yet were called Presbyters against a Presbyter receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses there is the measure and the warranty of the Audientia Episcopalis the Bps Audience Court and when the accused were found guilty he gives in charge to proceed to censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You must rebuke them sharply and you must silence them stop their mouths that 's St. Pauls word that they may no more scatter their venom in the ears and hearts of the people These Bishops were commanded to set in order things that were wanting in the Churches the same with that power of St. Paul other things will I set in order when I come said he to the Corinthian Churches in which there were many who were called Presbyters who nevertheless for all that name had not that power To the same purpose it is plain in Scripture that some would have been Apostles that were not such were those whom the spirit of God notes in the Revelation and some did love preeminence that had it not for so did Diotrephes and some were Judges of questions and all were not for therefore they appealed to the Apostles at Jerusalem and St. Philip though he was an Evangelist yet he could not give confirmation to the Samaritans whom he had baptiz'd but the Apostles were sent for for that was part of the power reserv'd to the Episcopal or Apostolical order Now from these premises the conclusion is plain and easy 1. Christ left a Government in his Church and founded it in the persons of the Apostles 2. The Apostles received this power for the perpetual use and benefit for the comfort and edification of the Church for ever 3. The Apostles had this Government but all that were taken into the Ministery and all that were called Presbyters had it not If therefore this Government in which there is so much disparity in the very nature and exercise and first original of it must abide for ever then so must that disparity If the Apostolate in the first stabiliment was this eminency of power then it must be so that is it must be the same in the succession that it was in the foundation For after the Church is founded upon its Governours we are to expect no change of government If Christ was the Author of it then as Christ left it so it must abide for ever for ever there must be the Governing and the Governed the Superior and the Subordinate the Ordainer and the Ordained the confirmer and the confirmed Thus far the way is straight and the path is plain The Apostles were the Stewards and the ordinary Rulers of Christs Family by virtue of the order and office Apostolical and although this must be succeeded to for ever yet no man for his now or at any time being called a Presbyter or Elder can pretend to it for besides his being a Presbyter he must be an Apostle too else though he be called in partem sollicitudinis and may do the offices of assistance and understewardship yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Government and Rule of the Family belongs not to him But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are these Stewards and Rulers over the houshold now To this the answer is also certain and easy Christ hath made the same Governours to day as heretofore Apostles still For though the twelve Apostles are dead Yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that office Apostolical and supreme regiment of Souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons the XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII and then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand and more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that Spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII and yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact St. Iames the Bp. of Ierusalem is by St. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and St. Paul and Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so saith Primasius and what is this else but the Bp. saith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bps were then called Apostles saith the same Father the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the
delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith Errata P 1 l 18 lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P 3 l ◠lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P 6 l 10. lege but by its being indiff P 34 transpose these words in the 4 and 5 lines The Gentry being little better then Servants while they live under the Presbyterie to 〈…〉 〈…〉 the Gentry c. P 36 l 17 lege Roman P 37 l 4 for discern lege deserve Luke 12. 42. And the Lord said who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he commeth shall find so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THese words are not properly a question though they seem so and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interogative but hypothetical and extends who to whosoever plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshold of him God requires a great care because he hath trusted him with a great imployment Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in my text Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it now and in all generations of men as long as this Family shall abide on earth that is the Apostles and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship were to be furnished with the same power and to undertake the same charge and to give the same strict and severe accounts In these words here is something insinuated and much expressed 1. That which is insinuated onely is who these Stewards are whom Christ had whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church they are not here nam'd but we shall find them out by their proper direction and indigitation by and by 2. But that which is expressed is the Office it self in a double capacity 1. In the dignity of it It is a Rule and a Government whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold 2. In the care and duty of it which determines the government to be paternal and profitable it is a Rule but such a rule as Shepheards have over their flocks to lead them to good pastures and to keep them within their appointed walks and within their folds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the work to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Matthew calls it meat in the season that which is fit for them and when it is fit meat enough and meat convenient and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong wholsom dyet 3. Lastly Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation The Steward that does so and continues to do so till his Lord find him so doing this man shall be blessed in his deed Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he commeth shall find so doing Of these in order 1. Who are these Rulers of Christs Family for though Christ knew it and therefore needed not to ask yet we have disputed it so much and obeyed so little that we have chang'd the plain hypothesis into an intangled question The Answer yet is easie as to some part of the inquiry The Apostles are the first meaning of the text for they were our Fathers in Christ They begat Sons and Daughters unto God and where a spiritual paternity is evident we need look no further for spiritual Government because in the paternal rule all power is founded They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the spirit and they fed this family and rul'd it by the word of their proper Ministery They had the keyes of this house the Stewards 〈◊〉 and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church then for the first planting and if it was necessary that the Apostles should have a rod and a staff at first it would be more necessary afterwards when the Family was more numerous and their first zeal abated and their native simplicity perverted into arts of hypocrisy and formes of godliness when Heresies should arise and the love of many should wax cold The Apostles had also a power of Ordination and that the very power it self does denote for it makes perpetuity that could not expire in the dayes of the Apostles for by it they themselves propagated a succession And Christ having promis'd his spirit to abide with his Church for ever and made his Apostles the channels the Ministers and conveyances of it that it might descend as the inheritance and eternal portion of the Family it cannot be imagined that when the first Ministers were gone thereshould not others rise up in the same places some like to the first in the same Office and Ministery of the spirit But the thing is plain and evident in the matter of fact also Quod in Ecclesiâ nunc geritur hoc olim fecerunt Apostoli said St. Cyprian What the Apostles did at first that the Church does to this day and shall do so for ever For when St. Paul had given to the Bp. of Ephesus rules of Government in this Family he commands that they should be observed till the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ and therefore these authorities and charges are given to him and to his Successors it is the observation of St. Ambrose upon the warranty of that text and is obvious and undeniable Well then The Apostles were the first Stewards and this Office dies not with them but must for ever be succeeded in and now begins the enquiry who are the Successors of the Apostles for they are they must evidently be the Stewards to feed and to rule this Family There are some that say that all who have any portion of work in the Family all the Ministers of the Gospel are these Stewards and so all will be Rulers The Presbyters surely for say they Presbyter and Bishop is the same thing and have the same name in Scripture and therefore the Office cannot be distinguished To this I shall very briefly say two things which will quickly clear our way through this bush of thornes I. That the word Presbyter is but an honourable appellative used amongst the Jews as Alderman amongst us but it signifies no order at all nor was ever used in Scripture to signify any distinct company or order of Clergy And this appears not onely by an Induction in all the enumerations of the Offices Ministerial in the
Church In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have childen whom thou mayest make Princes in all Lands that is not onely the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their Children Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum quinascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternitas id est Episcopi quos illa genuit patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith St. Austin the Children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bps and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not onely upon the words of institution but on matter of fact pas'd forth into a demonstration and greatest notoreity by the Doctrine and Practise of the whole Catholick Church For so St Irenaeus who was one of the most Ancient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative VVe can says he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in the Churches to be their Successors unto Vs leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus St. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bp. of Smyrna St. Clement Bp. of Rome by St. Peter and divers others by the Apostles saith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bps were consectated by St. Iohn and to be short that Bps are the Successours of the Apostles in the Stevvardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by St. Cyprian and St. Hieron St. Ambrose and St. Austin by Euthymius and Pasianus by St. Gregory and St. Iohn Damascen by Clarus à Muscula and St. Sixtus by Anacletus and St. Isidore by the Roman Councel under St. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bps from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these premises I give you in the words of St. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quòd Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is the Bps were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that St. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bps over Churches Indeed the Gnostics spake evil of this order for they are noted by three Apostles St. Paul St. Peter and St. Iude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of dignities and what Government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of St. Iude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the high Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of Men no man within the first 300 years after Christ oppos'd Episcopacy But when Constantine receiv'd the Church into his armes he found it universally governed by Bps and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and rul'd and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting Succession from the Apostles of our Lord have no Ecclesiastical and Derivative communion with the fountains of our Saviour If ever Lirinensis's rule could be us'd in any question it is in this quod semper quod ubique quod ab omnibus That Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in this Stewardship and that they did always rule the Family was taught and acknowledged always and every where and by all men that were of the Church of God and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this qestion We shall find our faith to fail in many other articles of which we yet are very confident For the observation of the Lords day the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist by Priests the Baptizing Infants the communicating of Women and the very Canon of the Scripture it self rely but upon the same probation and therefore the denying of Articles thus proved is a way I do not say to bring in all Sects and Heresies that 's but little but a plain path and inlet to Atheism and Irreligion for by this means it will not onely be impossible to agree concerning the meaning of Scripture but the Scripture it self and all the Records of Religion will become useless and of no efficacy or persuasion I am entered into a Sea of matter but I will break it off abruptly and sum up this enquirie with the words of the Councel of Chalcedon which is one of the four Generals by our Laws made the measures of judging Heresies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Sacriledge to bring back a Bishop to the degree and order of a Presbyter It is indeed a rifling the order and intangling the gifts and confounding the method of the Holy Ghost it is a dishonouring them whom God would honour and a robbing them of those spiritual eminencies with which the spirit of God does anoint the consecrated heads of Bishops And I shall say one thing more which indeed is a great truth that the diminution of Episcopacy was first introduced by Popery and the Popes of Rome by communicating to Abbots and other mere Priests special graces to exercise some essential Offices of Episcopacie hath made this sacred order to be cheap and apt to be invaded But then adde this If Simon Magus was in so damnable a condition for offering to buy the guifts and powers of the Apostolical order what shall we think of them that snatch them away and pretend to wear them whether the Apostles their Successors will or no This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bely the Holy-Ghost that is the least of it it is rapine and sacriledge besides the heresie and the schism and the spiritual lie For the government Episcopal as it was exemplified in the Synagogue and practised by the same measures in the Temple so it was transcribed by the eternal son of God who translated it into a Gospel Ordinance it was sanctifyed by the Holy Spirit who named some of the persons and gave to them all power and graces from above It was subjected in the Apostles first and by them transmitted to a distinct Order of Ecclesiasticks it was received into all Churches consigned in the Records of the Holy Scriptures preached by the universal voice of all the Christian