dore of Separatists and Schismaticks who by frustrating this Power render it contemptible and set open the dore to all Impiety and Atheism p. 122. CHAP. IX Of the Necessity of Vnity in point of Government as well as Faith in a National Church upon the account of Civil Policy Such Vnity the Design of all Religion in Reference to Humane Society No Happiness without it Government appointed by God with an Intention to promote this Design and therefore Disobedience a damnable sin p. 149 CHAP. X. A further discovery of the Impolitickness of Disunion in point of Church Government No Domestique Peace to be hoped for without it but perpetual Quarrels under pretence of Religion and Conscience The Rise and Spring of Fears and Jealousies from the several Interests of Dissenters p. 165 CHAP. XI The mischief of Disunion in respect of Foreign Affairs It Weakens any Nation and Exposes them to the Arms of their Enemies Robs them of their Alliances and Confederations Interest and Mutual Support the Foundation of all Leagues Different Churches in the same Nation incline People to Democracy p. 190 CHAP. XII Of Tolleration Some Animadversions upon a Book intituled The Advocate of Conscience Liberty in reference to all Dissenters p. 203 CHAP. XIII A further Examination of the same Author in his particular Plea for the Papists A short View of and Answer to their Boasting to be our Apostles Of their Antiquity Succession Visions Miracles c. Of the Oath of Supremacy Of the Powder Treason or Fifth of November p. 229 CHAP. XIV Of the Difficulty of Vnderstanding the Modes of things sensible much more those of the Intellectual World The Vnreasonableness of Obtruding things not certain as De Fide Of Faith It must be such a Condition of Salvation as All may perform because All have a Title to the Common Salvation The Scriptures the only Rule of this Faith which is the necessary Condition of being saved Of the difference between a Rule and a Guide p. 248 CHAP. XV. Of Episcopacy Proved to be of Divine Institution and the Government appointed over the Church by the Holy Ghost The Testimony of Scripture Of Ignatius the Disciple of the beloved Apostle St. John From the constant Vse and Consent of the Church in all Ages Of Aerius the Reason of his Heresie All Hereticks against Government The Doctrine of Calvin of the necessity of some to determine Differences p. 276 CHAP. XVI Of the Judge of Controversies No Humane Authority the Judge of Faith God only Infallible That part of the Catholique Church which is Militant may Err. The difference between not Erring and the Impossibility of Erring The Rulers of the Church the Interpreters of Scripture In all things not absolutely of the Essence of Faith which nothing can be that is not Evident in Scripture either in plain Words or necessary Consequence All private men Excluded from Interpretation of Scripture p. 302 CHAP. XVII The CONCLVSION p. 317 The Project of PEACE CHAP. I. The INTRODUCTION THEY must certainly have little good Nature and far less Christian Charity who are not most sensibly afflicted for the miserable Distractions the deplorable Differences and unnatural Divisions which are among those who profess the glorious Religion of Christ Jesus That Heart must be more flinty than a Stoick's which does not bleed it self and supply the Eyes with Tears whilst Christians who by the Command of their Great but Meek and Tender Lord ought to be harmless as Doves and innocent as Lambs are transformed by preposterous Zeal and pious Pretences into Wolves and Tygres and with a fierce and savage fury mutually Worry and Devour one another nay even exceed the madness of those Brutes and devest themselves of all Humanity to put on this new Nature as they term it of Religion For Saevis inter se convenit Vrsis The Greenland Bears are kind one to another But to the shame of those who call themselves Christians but are of the Synagogue of Satan that Aboriginal Murderer men are not so modest as to be confined within the limits of making true the Horrid Adage Homo homini Lupus that one man is a Wolf to devour another but they proceed to the utmost extremity of Malice and Madness and become Homo homini Daemon Devils to damn one another not Anthropophagi or Canibals but Psychophagi feeding upon humane souls turning that innocent Wisdom of the Serpent which our Lord commands to preserve our selves into the restless Malice of the Old Serpent to destroy others Souls Bodies and Estates and to infuse the Mortal Poison of Adders which is under their Lips into the Souls of Credulous Men through their Ears and Eyes with the pretext of Piety and true Religion The Glorious Company of Saints and Martyrs now triumphant in Heaven went thither through a Red Sea of Blood but it was their own which was shed by the cruel hands of Heathenish Persecutors who did it ignorantly in Unbelief and with joy it was that they set their seal to the Testimony of Jesus and his Truth in their dearest blood Emptying their Veins that their Souls might be filled with a glorious Immortality But now Christians who all profess one Common Name and Faith think they do not set to their seal to that Truth unless they shed the blood of one another and that most commonly for differences in Opinion for Words Names Fancies and Conjectures at least if we may believe there is no more in the bottom which they conceal than there is in what they pretend openly for the ground of the Quarrel Oh Barbarous Christianity Oh Heathenish Impiety In the importunate Croud of such mournful thoughts and considerations of former Experience of our late Shipwrack and fear of future Events which the Noisy Tempest that seemed to threaten our Crazy and bruised Vessel suggested to my mind my Soul was overwhelmed with Grief and fear and ready to sink into Dispair both at the remembrance of the past and the terrible Consequences of that Inevitable Ruin which Truth it self has pronounced against a house and a Kingdom divided within and therefore against themselves and distracted by Intestin Discords THE prophetique Caution of the Apostle came presently into my mind Gal. 5.15 But if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another I saw me thought with Horror the too plain truth of it in those once Golden Candlesticks Vid. Mr. Smiths Travels to the Seven Churches of Asia the Seven Churches of Asia who by their Discords were laid in ashes and are the habitations of Owls and Dragons or far worse Inhabitants the sordid Worshippers of that Great Imposter Mahomet I could not stand upon the Brink of such an amasing Precipice without extreme Horror nor see the Cause so Evident without a dreadful apprehension of the Tragical Issue Which made me break out into the Passionate Wish of the afflicted Jeremy Oh that my Head were Waters Jer. 9.1 2. and mine
their Disobedience to both those Powers unless the things commanded be manifestly proved to contradict the Faith or be repugnant to good Life which till Dissenters can do they will be obstinate Schismaticks before God and Rebels against their Prince and in a fair way to be Traytors too whilst they break his Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical however they may flatter themselves with the Title of Saints And so soon as they can prove their Charge against any of the Ceremonies and that they are Unlawful in reality and not only in supposition they shall be gratified by their Abolition or amendment if that will do And if they cannot prove their Accusations would they be so unjust as to have not Justice but Injury done to the Innocent by abrogating those Modes of Worship and Customs in the Church which the whole Church has allowed that Government which God appointed which he has approved by maintaining supporting and defending it to this present day against all the Opposition of Infidels and Hereticks those two Gates of Hell One would think that Rule of Vincentius Lirinensis were satisfactory to men of Reason and Sobriety Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus id quidèm verè est Catholicum That which every where always and by all has been received must needs be a Catholick Truth but such is the Power Rule Authority of Bishops for Guiding the Church and appointing the Modes of Worship And they who will oppose this spring Tide of Universal Testimony will but drown themselves in the Odious name of Schismaticks and Heriticks of whom these have been the Characters Mos semper fuit Hereticorum quorum Doctrinam non possunt confutare illorum vitam in Odium trahere It has always been the Custom of Hereticks to asperse the lives of those whose Doctrines they have not been able to confute Which has been the constant Practice of late years against Episcopacy and Episcopal Men to throw dirt upon the Profession and Persons and then proclaim them Odious when in truth the blackness is in their own Mouths and not either in the Persons whom they calumniate or in the Office Treating the Church as some Impudent Villains do the Modest Woman whom they cannot Debauch Cry out A Whore a Whore and set the Rabble upon her who roll her in the Kennel and cover her with dirt till no body can tell what she is made of and then believe she is what they have made her ugly and what the other would have made her but could not Criminal St. Bernard gives us a second Property Haerent ad singula quae injunguntur Exigunt de quibusque rationem male suspicantur de omnî Precepto nèc unquà m libentèr acquiescunt nisi cum audire contigerit quod fortè libuerit They stick at every thing which is by Authority enjoyned they require a a Reason nay and we may add are not satisfied with Reason for every thing they are Jealously suspicious of every Precept of their Superiors nor do they ever willingly acquiess in their determinations unless it happens that they are agreeable to their own Judgment and as St. Augustine says Nisi quod ipsi faciunt nihil rectum Existimant They think well of nothing or Judge it right but what they do themselves LET St. Cyprian give them a third Mark. Initia Haereticorum c. Vt Praepositum Superbo tumore contemnant Sic de Ecclesia receditur sic Altare prophanum Foràs Collocatur sic contra pacem Christi Ordinationem atque unitatem Dei rebellatur The Original of Hereticks is Contempt of those who are set over them So men separate from the Church So is a prophane Altar erected out of it So men become Rebells against the Peace of Christ Order and Vnity because as in another place he says Episcopus qui unus est Ecclesiae praeest Superbâ quorundam presumptione contemnitur The Bishop who is one and set over the Church is by the proud Presumption of some Men Contemned We may write a Probatum est to these Prophetique Truths I might Pyle up Endless Authorities and swell this Discourse to a Volume but if what I have already said be not sufficient to Convince the greatest Enemies of Episcopacy that it is a Government of Gods appointment in the Church I think all that can be said will be to no purpose and if this will more would be supersluous if they will not believe the Scripture If they will not believe the Church Mat. 18.17 it is our Saviour's Rule Let them be as Heathen men and Publicans CHAP. XVI HAVING now found a Divine and unerring Rule of Faith and Life in the Scripture of Truth and having also found there who are by God appointed to be Governours of the Church viz. Bishops There remains only the great Enquiry after the Judg of Controversies and Differences which is abslutely Necessary in the Church of God to determine Differences which may happen not only about Matters of private Opinion but even the sense of the Scriptures and the Interpretation of the Holy Rule And as these Differences may be of several Kinds and Natures so there are several Judges appointed by God to hear and determine them that so the Church may be preserved in Peace and Charity As to what is matter of Faith Essentially Necessary to Salvation That God is the Sole Judg of himself And therefore it has by him long since been determined and received in the Church and what ever by all must be believed must be easy by all to be known and is therefore plainly set forth in Holy Scripture Nor can any be Judg of this but what cannot Err or deceive us which is only God And to say the Church is the Judg of this and that it cannot Err because the Catholique Church does not Err is to argue Fallaciously à non esse ad impossibile esse For that part of the Catholique Church whilest on Earth consisting of Men of whom some shall be saved and some Reprobated No man having a power to know which of them are those who shall be kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation that they shall not Err and to distinguish them from those who shall not be so preserved and therefore there being a Possibility that those who may be Reprobates from the Faith themselves may yet be of great Authority in the Outward Visible Church it is unreasonable to admit them as Judges of Faith who Erring themselves my lead us into Errors too And therefore God who speaks to us in Scripture is only the Judg of what is matter of Faith and what not and it is to be tryed by that Rule and no Authority has power to impose any thing as matter of Faith Essentially necessary to Salvation but what is there to be found The Harmony of the Universal Church that such things as are offered as matters of Faith are agreeable to Scripture is in things not clear and
affraid he had bestowed upon them Labour in Vain for that they were relapsing to Jadaism and to the observing of Days and Years according to the Mosaick Law THIS has been a Constant Quarrel amongst Christians this bred those Mortal Divisions betwixt the Eastern and the Western Churches which has almost intirely ruin'd one of them and not advantaged the other as to Truth for whilest both pretended to be the only true Church of Christ by that exclusive Arrogance they were both so far False and this Unlawful claim was the Mother of the Doctrine of Infallibility in the Catholique Church which if it be understood of any particular company of Men and not of the whole Body of the Faithful which are in all Churches have been or shall be guided by the Spirit of God into all truth must be False for whoever is infallible must be without Sin which none can be in this imperfect State For if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us and the Maxim is undoubtedly true Quod predicatur de singulis universalium predicatur etiam de universalibus singularium If all men are Sinners they are fallible if every man is a Sinner then are all men here in this Mortal State So that if men would with Justice and Modesty allow degrees of Truth and that every Church possessed some so long as they retain the foundation of one only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent whom to know is Life eternal if they would strive more for Peace and Purity than for this Supremacy and impossibility of being the only true Church they would certainly have more Truth because more Charity Peace Vnity THERE were Seven Churches in Asia though now nothing but the Names and those scarce Legible in their Ruins to which our blessed Lord commands St. John to write Rev. 1 2 3 Chapters What thou seest write in a Book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea Every Church was a Golden Candlestick and every one had a Star which was the Angel Guardian or Governour of the Church and which Christ held in his right hand These Candlesticks were all of Gold but some more refined and purer Mettal than others the Stars were all bright and shining but some more dim and obscure than others for one star exceeded another star in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 42. even in the Firmament of the Church as well as in Heaven And doubtless if that place be true shall hereafter for so is the Resurection of the Dead From this Instance of the Seven Churches these Deductions seem evidently to follow FIRST That several Nations are several Distinct Coordinate not subordinate Churches for so the Son of God calls these Seven which yet were comprised in the lesser Asia and People of one Language though of distinct and separate Polities which seems to be that which differences Nations and not Languages SECONDLY That distinct and several Coordinate Churches may all be true Churches and Vnited in the Common Bond of the same Faith and Charity who yet may not be of equal Purity two only are here commended for their Purity viz. Smyrna and Philadelphia the other are condemned Ephesus for having forsaken her first Love her Zeal and Devotion Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and for suffering the odious Sect of the Nicolaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezebel a woman to teach contrary to the Express Command of God and therefore to seduce the People by eating things offered to Idols Sardis for having a name to live but being dead Loadicea for being luke-warm neither hot nor cold a Church of Latitudinarians all these are threatned and reproved but not rejected from the name and being of Churches THIRDLY That the holy Catholique Church is composed of several distinct National Churches for we must not think the Son of God could be guilty of an impropriety of Speech he distinguishes them by the places where they were planted and by their degrees of Purity as so many several Churches without giving them any precedency on preheminence one over another he does not direct the Angels of the several Churches to Rome or Alexandria or Jerusalem or Antioch though all then famous Churches for redress of their Errors he does not send them to St. Peter or his Successors the Catholique Apostolique Roman Church as the Pillar and Ground of Truth not a word of the Sancta sedes Apostolica Petri Cathedra Ecclesia Principalis nothing of the Romanorum Fides ad quos perfidia habere non potest accessum which place of St. Cyprian the Romanists boast so much of whilest they indeavour to appropriate the word Catholique only to their Church which is as good sense as that any one man is humane Nature But for the redress of their Errors amendment of their Lives and reformation of their false Doctrines he gives them all this short Direction He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches and that to every one of them distinctly so that what the Spirit of God speaks to the Churches was to be the Rule of Faith Life and Doctrine and what was it which the Spirit spake unto the Churches was ever any Tradition said to be spoken by the Holy Spirit No certainly nothing was ever spoken by the Spirit to the Churches but the Books of the Holy Canon which all Ages have consented to without the least Addition or Diminution as the late Bishop of Durham Dr. Cosins has made appear more distinctly till such time as the Absolutissima Syndus Tridentina as they call the Trent Session for some passages which seem favourable to Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead was pleased to adopt these into the Holy Canon though nothing is more evident than that till then they were Esteemed only Humane Writings and Apocryphal however hereby they have given a Specimen of the Power they pretend over our Faith for by the same Authority they may impose Aesops Fables and the Alchoran as matters of Faith Neither did the ancient Churches when Heresies sprung up resort to Rome for infallible Determinations but to Oecumenical and General Councels not Esteeming their Determinations valid neither unless agreeable to the Holy Scripture which was always accounted the Norma or Rule by which they were to be guided and at which Councels the Pope did assist not as the Head but as a Principal Member and the respect he had given him was as Patriarch of the Imperial City and the Western Churches and not as Monarch of the whole Catholick Church and even some later Councels as that of Basil have undertaken to reform Errors and Abuses and to depose the Pope being found guilty of them LASTLY It may from hence be concluded That Christ himself is the only head of the Catholick Church which is composed
that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have hope So were the Scriptures of the New Testament given us a new Rule and a Royal Law of Liberty that we might not Glory in Men 1 Gor. 3.21 22. c. 4.1.6 neither in Paul nor Cephas But that we might esteem them Stewards of the Mysteries of God And not to think of them above what is Written Which place if throughly considered teaches us not to prefer any Man or Men above the Scripture THIS will appear further if we consider the Nature of a Rule for a Rule is the constant certain infallible unchangeable measure according to which I judg of any thing whether it be true or false And if I can but suppose what is offer'd me for a Rule to be false or if I know it is or may be false it can be no Rule because it leaves me in an Uncertainty whether I am Right or Wrong But the Scripture cannot be supposed to be false for admitting that supposition they are no longer Scriptures or the Word of God for every word of God is true Men have been are and will be Fallible Traditions are dubious and uncertain but the Word of God is tried to the uttermost and coming from the Infallible Author of all Truth is the Touchstone of the Truth of Men and their Doctrines and by that we examine by that we judg of mens Faith and actions Isa 8.20 If they speak not according to the Law and the Testimony it is because there is neither Light nor Truth in them THE Mistake seems to be in Confounding the Difference between a Rule and a Guide and they who would advance the Authority of the Church above the Scripture set the Judg above the Law and Confound him with it The Church is indeed the Guide which instructs us but if her Instructions are not according to her Rule of Scripture when we hope for Bread she gives us a Stone and instead of a Fish a Scorpion Mortal Poyson for wholesome Nourishment To Illustrate this Suppose I desire to learn the Mathematicks I therefore apply my self to a Person skilful in that Incomparable Science and intreat him to direct me He shews me Euclid's Elements as the Foundation of Mathematical Knowledg and therefore reads and explains it to me Pray now who is the Rule the Master or the Book Certainly all men who have not forfeited their Reason will say the Book is the Rule the Man the Guide and if he give me any thing for a Demonstration contrary to the Principles therein contained I know by them that he is mistaken because he he has not instructed me according to the Rule The case is the same only the Infallibility of the Scriptures is more certain being founded upon the Infallibility of God They are the Rule the Governors of the Church the Guides appointed by God for that purpose to them therefore men resort for Instruction but if they teach either what is their own or other mens contrary to the Rule they are false Guides and why so But because they give a false Rule betraying that high Trust by God reposed in them to be Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame to conduct them to Eternal Bliss by the Directions of that Rule of which St. Paul says Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this Rule Peace be on them and Mercy and upon the Israel of God AND even they who contend so earnestly against the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith and Life ought to shew some other End and Design of the Scriptures and a better Rule and not Confute themselves and all their Assertions and Arguments by making this the Rule of Believing whilst they bring Arguments out of it against it self which they would have therefore believed because they are Scripture plainly confessing it to be the Ultimate Rule and that nothing can properly be matter of Faith but what is agreeable to it Which has made the Romish Doctors sweat and toyl so vehemently to Extort Confessions from the Scripture Tert. de Praescript adv Heretic as Tertullian says Caedem Scripturarum faciunt ad materiam suam even Murdering it almost to make it speak to their purpose And since they could not prevail with it to Depose against the Truth they have put it into the Inquisition Imprisoning it in the Vulgar Latin lest if it should get abroad and speak Truth as it would do in despight of all Opposition it would proclaim their Injustice and Violence to the meanest Capacities of the Vulgar among them who would hereby come to detect the Pious Frauds and profitable Follies which are imposed upon them as matter of Faith THE ancient Church believed the Scriptures the Rule of Faith and therefore took care to have them Translated into Syrian Chrys Hom. 1. in Joh. Aegyptian Ethiopian Persian and other innumerable Languages as St. Chrysostom testifies and Theodoret says Theod. de Cur. Graec. affect lib. 5. the Bible was Translated into all Languages used in the World Greek Latin Persian Indian Armenian Scythian Sarmatian And this seems one if not the principal Reason why the Holy Ghost did Miraculously descend in Cloven Tongues upon the Apostles inabling them to speak in several Languages for the Parthians Medes Elamites Dwellers in Mesopotamia Judea Cappadocia Pontus Asia Phrygia Pamphylia in Lybia and Cyrene Crete and Arabia heard them speak the wonderful Works of God If they might have used the Compendious way of Instructing them to believe as the Church believes and had made themselves The rule of Faith and like the Priests of Memphis delivered their Hieroglyphical Faith from one to another there would have been no need of all this or of their Pains who afterwards were so diligent to Translate the Scriptures into all Languages to instruct all Nations and to let them see there was no Cheat or Juggle in Religion by exposing it to the view of the severest Criticks CHAP. XV. I Suppose there are no Dissenters among us except those of the Roman Communion but will willingly accord the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Manners And though there may be differences between us and them in some Material points of Doctrine yet the Apple of Strife is about the Government of the Church Some contending for a Parity and Equality as the Presbyterians others for an Absolute Independency of any the least Congregation of Men calling themselves a Church Others for a Democratick Anarchy as the Anabaptists and Quakers and several other Enthusiasts But all point blank against Episcopacy though hitherto they have not been able to satisfie the World for what Offence As for the Independency of Churches I shall only say in short that it opens the way to endless Separations and innumerable Errors and Hesies no man having power to Judg of them besides themselves And slies so far from the Popery of Hierarchy that it runs into a worse Extream and makes every Pastor Supreme
evident the best Method to obtain Assent to them As the disagreement of the Church is to suspend our Belief But this can only be about such things as are collaterally of Faith and by coming under the Notion of things Dubious are matter of Opinion and which if a man never knows he may be saved and therefore if he does not believe he cannot be Damned the Church is the Interpreter but not the Judg and indeed every man is a Judg for himself by his Eyes his Ears his Reason and Understanding whether that which the Church Interprets be according to the Scripture the Rule of that Faith by which he is to be saved and which therefore it is necessary that he know before he believe it to Salvation BUT since doubts are of divers Natures Private and Publique let us see how any Person may be determined in both First therefore Where the doubt is only Private about things not determined by Publique Authority derived from Scripture which are of an Indifferent Nature Every Mans full perswasion is his Judg according to the best Evidence the things in doubt admit of from the light of Nature Reason or probability that they are good and Lawful or Evil and Unlawful This full Perswasion St. Paul calls Faith Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin that is what I am not fully perswaded in my own mind of the Lawfulness of I cannot lawfully do This was the Case of the Gentiles who having only the Law of Nature were a Law to themselves their thoughts either Accusing or Excusing them as they acted according to the best of their knowledg and full Perswasion But this Judgment is only Private and has nothing to do with any other Person Hast thou Faith have it to thy self who art thou that Judgest anothe Happy is he that Condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth This is the Error of our Times men will make their Private perswasions Judges of all other men and impose their Private Opinions as matters of Faith necessary to Salvation Against which the whole Scope of that whole 14th Chapter to the Romans is designed BUT there is also another Private Judg whom God has appointed with Reference to things both of Private and Publique Concern and that is Conscience the Rule of Conscience is the Scripture the measure of Conscience is the certainty of Knowledg and the Judgment of Conscience is the determination of the Mind and the Direction of our Practice according to it For thus I and every man Judges I therefore believe the Articles of the Christian Faith that I am to do good to All men to be Obedient to God and my Lawful Superiors to live Righteously soberly and Godly in this present World because I certainly know that these things are by God commanded in Scripture and whatever is not so in plain Words or Consequence is only matter of Opinion and not of Conscience Certainty of Knowledg being of the Essence of Conscience as Probability is of the Essence of Opinion BUT Secondly In regard this very Rule is in things of Publique Doubt and Concern in some things Dubious such as is the Controversie about Government And since the Holy Oracles may seem to admit of Diverse interpretations so that what satisfies one mans Judgment is quite Opposite and contrary to another We must inquire who are to be Judges and Interpreters of the Rule in these Publique Affairs For that there must be some Judg or Judges is plain because God commands Vnity and Obedience but these cannot be obtained without men be determined What and Whom to Obey St. Peter informs us 2 Pet. 1.20 2 Pet. 3.16 That it is not the Duty of Private men For no Scripture is of private Interpretation and shews us the danger Notwithstanding which bold men will venture at it as St. Hierom says of his days Hier. Ep. ad Paulinum Scripturarum Ars est quam passim omnes sibi vendicant hanc Garrula anus hanc delirus Senex hanc Sophista verbosus hanc universi presumunt lacerant docent antequam discant It seems in his time all people read the Scriptures For every prating Old Woman and Doating Old Man every Wrangling wordy Sophister challenges and presumes to tear the Scriptures in pieces and to teach others before they have learnt themselves Whereas these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Peter calls them Unlearned ungrounded People ought first to Learn But of whom There is but this Choice either this Power is in the People or in the Governors of the Church IT cannot be in the People for they are Private Persons and are incapacitated by being so to perform this Publique Office for what no one can do singly neither can all do Collectively what every man wants all must For if every man in the World had but one Eye all the World must want two And the People are to Obey in Learning and therefore not to Rule in Teaching Neither would it be possible to come to any Determination in any thing it being impossible to find all the People of one Nation City Village or Family Nay even one Person of the same mind for any continuance of Time and by consequence all Religion must stagger and totter with continual Changes Uncertainties and Alterations and at last fall to Ruine and Confusion Which Great Truth forced even Calvin himself to drop this Oracle so contrary to the Pretences of his now Followers who would have the Fences of Government which incloses Gods Vineyard thrown down and all laid Common by Tolleration and Liberty of Conscience Cal. Inst lib. 4. p. 10. Sect. 31. Quantarum Rixarum saith he semen futura sit Earum Rerum Confusio si prout cuique libitum sit mutare liceat quae ad communem Statum pertinent Quando nunquam futurum est ut omnibus idem placeat si res velut in medio Positae singulorum arbitrio relictoe fuerint Si penes singulos jus Arbitrium erit Judicandi nihil unquam certi constitui Poterit Quin potius tota vacillabit Religio Of how many and great Quarrels would such Confusion be the Nursery If it shall be Lawful for every man according to his Pleasure to change those things which belong to the Common State of Christianity Since it can never be possible that the same thing should please all so long as indifferent things are left to be determined according to every mans Arbitrary Pleasure And if the Power and Right the Liberty of Judging Arbitrarily be left to the pleasure of All nothing of certainty can ever be Established but rather all Religion will totter and tumble down THE Scripture must be Interpreted and is not of Private Interpretation what remains but that it is of Publique God commands Vnity but in doing so he would command an Impossibility if he had not appointed Means to obtain it to whom then can this Power be delegated to draw all mens private Opinions into one Common Rule
which they are to Govern which is the Word of the Infallible God who cannot lye or be deceived and I suppose that they may act contrary to this Rule and that presumes they are not Infallible but if they follow the Rule then I say they cannot Err and should the Pope do so all Christians over whom he may Challenge a lawful Jurisdiction as their Patriarch ought to submit to him But it is Evident that the Roman Church does Err and has Erred in many things forsaking the Rule setting up the Authority of the Pope to alter and change that Rule by introducing new Articles of Faith new Books of Scripture and old Traditions his own Canons Decretals and Councels for a Rule nay his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Sentence and Determination for an Infallible Rule of Faith and Life which is as far from me to believe of our Bishops as to say or believe it of him NOR does this Jurisdiction of Bishops either take away that subordination which for convenience of Government is among them or intrench upon the Supremacy of the Civil Magistrate since his Supremacy consists in a Temporal Soveraignty and pretends not to any Pastoral Power but only such Kingly and Civil Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical as Constantine and several other Religious Emperors had and Exercised to whom even Popes as well as other Patriarchs yielded subjection as I can make appear out of the Epistles of Gregory the Great to Mauritius and the Ecclesiastical Historians in a hundred places And nothing is more plain than that Christ himself owned a Subjection as well as Commanded one to Cesar As for the Civil Magistrate and his Power I think nothing more Evident than the Duty all their Subjects whether Laicks or Ecclesiasticks owe them and that they have Prescription the Law of God Nature Nations and those of their own on their side for the Defence of their Titles to their Crowns and Scepters and that the Church and Faith is and ought to be their Particular Care as well as it is their Interest the quiet of the State ever depending in a great Measure upon the Peace of the Church and that they have a Coercive Power by virtue of which they may compel men to Obedience to the Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical which in conformity to the Law of God are to promote the Peace Happiness Unity and Prosperity of their People Nor was this Doctrine ever deni'd till the Papacy growing great and the Empire declining began to think of a Temporal as well as a Spiritual Monarchy and to Unite St. Paul's Sword to St. Peter's Keys And till the Presbyterians reviving the Heresy of Aerius and his levelling Principle began to indeavour to set up their Spiritual Democracy in the Church in order to their Erecting it also in the State as the sad Probatum which they writ to their late deadly of the Solemn League and Covenant might convince us without the dangerous necessity of a second Experiment Ictus Piscator sapit The burnt Child dreads the fire and we have a great deal more reason to do so than to kindle it again and run our fingers into the Flame to try whether it will burn as hot now as formerly it did CHAP. XVII The CONCLVSION TO draw to a Conclusion I think it is evident from all that any person can in reason desire to give him Satisfaction That the Powers and Government in this Church and Nation are Lawful and of Gods appointment That Vnity in Faith and Obedience to their Government are the only Expedients to secure unto us Peace and Religion and that if these be our Desires the other are our Interest and ought to be our diligent indeavours and our constant Practice It is this Unity this Obedience that must make us Happy at home and Terrible abroad which are the only Ways to procure and Establish a lasting Peace both in our Souls in our State in our Church and with our Foreign Neighbours who may be obliged more by our formidable Vnity than by our feeble Arms or other Alliances I would gladly know therefore of Dissenters who and our sins are the great Obstructors of our Happiness Are you certain that the Government of Bishops is Unlawful and Antichristian Can you prove that any of the Commands of the Church or State are Unlawful contrary to plain Scripture and Publique Interpretation If you can you may pretend Conscience for your Disobedience but if you cannot and I am assured it is impossible how do you think you shall escape the dreadful and Revenging Power of the Judg of all men when he shall come in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on those that know not God and obey not his Gospel Flatter not your selves with the vain Opinion of your Sanctity Many shall say Lord have not we Prophesied in thy Name to whom he will answer Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity for I know you not and well he may for he says Positively He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and him that sent me is not this Disobeying the Gospel The Holy Ghost says he has made Bishops you say they are Antichristian he sends them to Instruct you in the way of Righteousness and to Watch for your Souls you Watch for their Ruine their Lives Honors and Estates he commands you to Esteem them highly you despise them contemn and Vilifie them He commands you to Obey you not only refuse but teach that to Obey is Damnable He planted them among you to plant the Faith you vow and swear to Extirpate Root and Branch Go on and Prosper said the False Zedechiah with his Horns of Iron but Ahab fell Be not deceived you may Mock the Messengers of God but God is not to be Mocked if you sow the Wind your shall reap the Whirlwind the terrible Tempest of his Wrath and Indignation They that lay Snares for the Innocent shall be Ensnared in the Works of their own hands You believe you know God but in Works you deny him for as Saint John saith of himself and his fellow Apostles and of their successors as all lawful Bishops are and will be to the end of the World 1 Joh. 4.6 We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Holy Church of God in all Ages for God has a Church in all Ages according to his Promise acknowledg this to be the sense and Meaning of the Scripture which I have shewn how then will you avoid this guilt with which St. John charges you this spirit of Error which he assures us is to be known by this Character of not hearing those whom God hath sent ARE you certain that you are in the Right and that all the Saints and Martyrs Bishops and Confessors who believed thus lived and dyed in Antichristian Error Ignorance and Superstition strangers to these
Disobedience to any one Command of God For St. James assures us that the keeping of the whole Law will not countervail the wilful breach of one Point but that whoever does so is guilty of all and he adds the Reason Jam. 2.10 11. For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not Kill And he that said do not Kill said also Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers Now to infer with him If thou commit no Adultery If thou do not Kill yet if thou art not subject to the Higher Powers thou art become a Trangressor of the Law a Sinner before God For sin is the transgression of Gods Law and therefore as St. John tells us 1 Joh. 3.15 No Murderer has Eternal life abiding in him So neither has any who does not submit to the Higher POWERS any Eternal Life abiding in him because they are both Transgressors of the Holy Law and Commandment of God THUS far I think all Men Good and Bad will go along with me but the pinch of the Question is How far this Obedience is due and what are the Limits of the Authority of Superiors Whether the Civil or Ecclesiastical Magistrate ought to be Obeyed in all their Commands which concern Religion or the Worship of God To this I Answer by distinguishing according to the Old and True Maxim of Logicians Qui bené distinguit bené docet The commands therefore of Superiors are either concerning Faith and Manners or Government and Order As to matters of Faith neither the onenor the other havethe least power to alter abrogate impose or diminish the least Tittle or Iota of it For Faith being of Divine Revelation and the Law by which God Almighty will have us guided in what concerns himself is like him Immutable and Unchangeable and is only subject to his Authority who is the Author and the Finisher of our Faith Now the true Faith is what is contained in Scripture either in direct Words or plain Consequence This all Christian Kings Princes and Governors are bound to maintain and ought to be its Defenders but not to Invade or Usurp a Dominion over it And should they make any Law to the prejudice of this Faith no man ought to obey them for here the Rule holds good That we are to obey God rather than Men but neither will this Authorize any Persons who are Subjects to those Powers to Rebel against them or Oppose them more than by endeavouring with Meekness and Charity to maintain that Faith Nay should they impose Penalties upon such as were disobedient to their Laws in matters of Faith 't is the Glory of Christian Religion to teach men to suffer patiently but not to seek Revenge or to endeavour to free themselves or the Faith from danger by flying to unlawful Arms which would be like Vzzah's Folly for which he was Smitten to lay our hands upon the Ark when the Oxen stumble and shake it and to suppose that God either would not or could not take any care to defend that Faith which he himself had planted in the World THIS was the Case of the Apostles Act. 4..3 The Chief Priest and Counsel commanded them not to speak at all in the Name of Jesus had they been so minded they might have raised a Tumult for the Captain and Officers who went to apprehend them brought them without Violence because they went without resisting fearing as much as their Guards lest the inraged People should rescue them by stoning the Officers And when the High Priest charges them with Disobedience to his Commands St. Peter tells them it was a matter of Faith what they had seen and heard and were commanded by the Son of God to Preach whom they ought to obey rather than Men. This was the Case of the Primitive Christians under the Heathen and persecuting Emperors Did the Emperor command them to his Wars they went willingly Fought gallantly sometimes purchast Victories with their Prayers as well as Sword Did he exact Tribute from them they paid it freely Command to renounce Christ or to Blaspheme him or to offer but a single grain of Incence to the Idols or Emperors Statue though to save their Lives they refused presently Did he take away their Estates for their Disobedience to his Edicts they suffer'd patiently Did he expose them to Racks Tortures Wild beasts and Flames they went to them joyfully indured them miraculously and so obtain'd the Glorious Crown of Martyrdom All this while not a hand lift up against the Lords Anointed their Soveraign unless to Heaven to pray to God for his Pardon and Conversion not a Tongue moves against his Government to call it Tyrannical Unlawful or Antichristian though in reality it was such Not a Pen is sharpned against him or his Ministers of State no invectives or Exhortations to Rebellion to depose or Murder him and indeed nothing farther than to Apologize for their Innocence and to manifest that they were his most obedient Subjects and free from all the Calumnies of being Seditious Disturbers of the Government or Peace of the Empire THE same may be said of Good Manners as of Faith for Justice Temperance Innocence and Purity being Commands of God no Earthly power can either dispence with them or lawfully command the contrary Vices or if they do they may nay ought to be disobey'd BUT Secondly The Commands of our Superiors may concern Order and Government and herein they ought Universally to be obey'd as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil Laws and Commands provided they do not herein manifestly or by consequence Oppose Faith or Good Manners and that for these Reasons FIRST Because Order is absolutely Necessary as well in the Church as in the State and is Positively commanded by God Let every thing be done Decently and in Order 1 Cor. 14.40 and that for a most solid and weighty Reason For God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace Vers 33. as in all the Churches of the Saints Confusion is absolutely unlawful God disowns it Peace is absolutely Necessary in all Churches of Saints without Order there can be no Peace nor indeed any thing but Confusion without Governors to appoint and determine Differences arising about Modes and Matters of Decency there can be no Peace because Differences must be endless and without Submission to these Governors and their final Determinations both in Church and State they are no longer Rulers and Governours but the Order which God has appointed in the World to procure Peace and Happiness is utterly Subverted and Overthrown For Government and Obedience do mutually suppose each other and as Logicians say Pater est filii Pater a Father is therefore a Father because he has a Child so a Governor a King a Magistrate in Church or State is therefore such because he has People subject and obedient to him and as all the Power of Governors is limited to those things which are left undetermined by Gods Positive
of such Conversions as were Confusions and Consumptions of those Populous Nations To Divine Miracles we oppose all those false Fictions absurd and ridiculous Fables and Legends of their Saints the detection of which has not only now discredited their Religion but given occasion to men of Atheistical Principles to think it is all but as a Pope said Fabula Christi and to call in question the true Miracles of our Saviour and that Faith which was confirmed by them Such as are the Stories of Tursellin in his Lady of Lauretto Benedict's Miracles of the Blessed Virgin and the greatest Miracle of them all Lipsius a man so learned so rational to dote in his old Age in his Romance of the Virgo Hallensis Vives Bristow Canus Canus lac l. 11. cap. 6. complain too truly of them That hereby no man is able to put a difference between the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles and those of these Mens forging And since the one have been often proved False why may not the other be suspected too especially being at so great a distance and pull but down this Foundation and all Religion becomes a meer Gullery and Imposture To his Universality I would gladly know if Historically and Literally Jerusalem was not the Mother of us all Luke 24.42 and that according to the Scriptures Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached unto all Nations beginning at Jerusalem as happened out Acts the second to all the known Nations of the World assembled either for Curiosity or Religion at the Passover And why may not Antioch where the Disciples were first called Christians pretend to Antiquity and Universality as well as Rome since Christianity it self there first received its Baptism and she may well be termed the Godmother of Rome her self who had then neither received the Name nor Faith of Christ Are not the Grecian Armenian Ethiopian Christians as well as the Roman Members of the Catholique Church and yet they own not the Pope either as to Primacy or Supremacy and thousands of them know not whether there be such a man in the World It is hard to damn them all with a breath and as hard for Rome to challenge this Universality where she is scarcely known and I am sure not owned THE same may be said to his Antiquity and even Errot can scarcely be called the younger Brother of Truth and is so much a Twin with it as from its very Birth to have had its hand upon the others heel in order to supplant it Is it therefore true because it is Ancient Was not Simon Magus the Founder of the Gnosticks as ancient as St. Peter and the other Apostles were not Phygellus and Hermogenes Hymeneus and Phyletus and Alexander 2 Tim. 1.15 2 Tim. 2.17 those Christian Saducees who denìed the Resurrection and overthrew the Faith of some as ancient as St. Paul Was not Diotrephes in probability the Parent of the Aerian Heresy who to Exalt himself prated with such malicious words endeavouring to degrade an Apostle contemporary with St. John Joh. 3.9 10. if Antiquity will make men Catholique these have a fairer Plea than Rome who in probability received their Errors before she did her Faith FOR Succession we refer him to Baronius in his Annals if he likes not Genebrard Baron Ann. 985. N. 1. or Sigonius who will inform him of a Catalogue of Popes and their several Characters Simonists Boniface 8. Boyes Benedict 13. John 13. Sergius the 3. and a many more about 50. who as he says Deserved not to be put into the Catalogue of Popes but as he affirms of Boniface who murdered Benedict the 6. and John the 15. were fitter company for Sylla and Cataline And these being all Monuments and all the substance of their Religion it will not be worth our while to Examine all the Accidents of Christianity as the Advocate phrases it I come therefore to his particular Vindication of them from the Calumnies which he says are objected against them and first to their refusing the Oath of Supremacy For if any Oath be lawful among Christians it is a vain Cavil which he makes against this for my own particular I could heartily wish that all Oaths could be made more perspicuous and less frequent but there being an absolute impossibility of the one and necessity of the other we must submit to Humane Frailty For no Oath can be so fromed or worded but it will be liable to the same Exceptions by reason of the ambiguity of all words and the variety of mens apprehensions and understandings And by this Rule no man shall be obliged to take any Oath But when any person takes such Oaths he swears to the declared intention of the Government which requires him to swear for their Security and those under their Care And this is designed only as a mark of Distinction between the Peaceable Friends and the Enemies whose contrivances and intentions are hereby either obviated or discovered and it being easy to be understood and what all men know by the light of Nature Reason and Scripture they who will not Swear to be Obedient to the Government in Veritate Judicio Justitia let the manner of Expressing this be what it will cannot be reputed other than Enemies Nor is the Controversie of Supremacy contained in the word Heretical a speculative point as he would perswade us but a Practical not whether the Pope has any Authority to Excommunicate but whether he has any Authority here to Exercise a Jurisdiction to the prejudice of the Established Government and since he seems to confess that he has not why should any Christian deny to give the Government all the Assurances that can be desired and if such an Authority in the Pope be not grounded upon the Scripture or the Practice of the Catholique Church and no older than the Nos Sanctorum of Pope Hildebrand and therefore Impious and Heretical as being an Usurpation upon the Temporalities of all Princes may not any person except he designs against the Government lawfully swear that he disowns both the Principle and the Practice And since the Clause of the Oath of Supremacy is explicated to intend only Civil and Kingly Government and Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical pag. 184. May not any man swear in Truth Judgment and Equity if it be true it ought to be the Judgment of every good Christian and it is a great measure of Justice and Equity that he should declare himself and call God to witness since as before was said men swear to the true intention and meaning of the Imposers of the Oath and not to any other sence which the words will bear But the plain truth why they refuse is because they do believe the contrary and it is but reasonable since they do that by this Mark of Distinction the Government should know who are Friends to it and who Enemies who by this Principle would Subvert and Overthrow it And if a Man
whereas for many Ages past men have beaten their Brains Joel 3.10 To beat their Plough-shares into Swords and their Pruning Hooks into Spears have Employed those Parts and Abilities with which they ought to have broken up the fallow Ground Hos 10.12 to sow in righteousness what we might reap in Peace to wound one anothers sides Would they follow this Rule of Charity we might see the Glorious Prophecy of Micha fulfilled Mich. 4.1 2 3 4. For in the last Days it shall come to pass that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be Exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it and many Nations shall come and say Come and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths and they shall beat their Swords into Plough-shears and their Spears into Pruning Hooks Nation shall not rise up against Nation neither shall they learn War any more but they shall sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig Tree and none shall make them affraid I know it will be objected That the Scriptures are full of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things difficult to be understood To which I answer with the Apostle 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. The holy Scriptures are able to make any man wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Jesus Christ being given by Inspiration of God for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteotsness that the Man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good Works All this is contained in them in plain and easy Language and who can desire more what is necessary to be believed or done is to be found there without such Difficulty and that is all that either is or can properly be our Concern The Design of Religion is not to entertain the speculative or gratifie the Curious but to guide the Practical Christian in his Duty And if there be difficult places there is no necessity of our Understanding them For he that inspired the Holy Pens cannot without the greatest Impiety be argued of acting negligently insufficiently or without Design as other careless Writers may and that they are not more clear and perspicuous ought with a becoming reverence due to the only wise God to be believed that they are therefore wrapt up in Mysterious words either because they are not necessary or not fit for us to know Nor is there the least danger in such humble Ignorance but there is certainly in a presumptuous Curiosity and seeking after the Tree of Knowledge which God has prohibited by planting the Wall of Obscurity about it and if we will with the Bethshemites be Peeping into the Ark we may expect to be punished justly by wresting the Scriptures to our own Damnation and much more if being Unlearned and Private Men we undertake to give Publique Interpretations and Determinations different from both the Catholique Faith and Church 2 Pet. 1.20 For no Scripture is of Private Interpretation AND that this is the danger is as evident as the Punishment of it is certain for here is the Spring head of Errors and Heresies which always took their Original from the Transgression of this Caution For when men will leave the plain and beaten Path the easy Way to Happiness here and Heaven hereafter by Faith and Obedience to seek for it in their own Wisdom and Niceties it is no wonder if they wander out of the Way of Truth when they permit themselves to be lead by their Private Opinions and Interpretations it is the blind leading the blind in the Darkness of Midnight and no wonder then if at last they stumble and fall into the blackness of Eternal Darkness For self-love is a very blind Guide and self Conceit a worse and they must needs be in darkness to whom God denies the light of the Spirit which he does in all obscure places of Scripture and if as he told the Jews men therefore Err not knowing the Scripture they must needs Err who will know more than he will let them To confirm the truth of this Doctrine and that the Holy Canon is as the word Imports a Rule not only of our Actions but our Faith I would desire any Person to give me a reason why he Believes the three Famous Creeds which contain the sum and substance of our Christian Faith there can be but these three Reasons First Because he immediately by Divine Revelation is assured of his Faith or Secondly Because he is perswaded by some Person or Persons to believe or Thirdly Because he finds the Articles there mentioned either in plain Words or evident Consequences in Scripture which for good reason he believes to be the Dictates of divinely inspired Penmen THE First all sober Men reject as leading directly to Enthusiasm and under pretence of Heavenly Revelations to introduce Hellish Impieties and Doctrines of Devils who having a Power to transform themselves into Angels of Light may take that Advantage to Impose upon strong Fancies and weak Judgments FOR the Second a man will thus argue Why should I believe this or these Men since all men are Fallible and they who may be deceived may therefore deceive and if I believe this Man why not another why not Mahomet who pretended to the Holy Ghost as much as they AND therefore Thirdly Faith must be resolved into the first Principle of it which is Gods Truth and Infallibility and that Word which I believe to be his and therefore more Credible than the Word of any or all Men. Thus was Faith first propagated in the World and thus it must be increased for the Multitudes to whom the Apostles Preached throughout the World did not believe St. Peter or St. Paul that Preached Jesus and the Resurrection Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come but seeing the Miracles which they did they believed that this was the Word of God and that Jesus was the Son of God agreable to the Doctrine of the Prophets in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah This Method our Lord made use of with his Disciples Luke 24.5.4 Then opened he their Vnderstanding that they might Vnderstand the Scriptures that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning him and he said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again the third day from the Dead and that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem This Doctrine of Faith the Apostles believed this they Preached not as their own but the Faith of Christ this they committed to Writing and delivered to the Christians as the Rule of their Faith and Life Rom. 15.4 For as the Scriptures of the Old Testament and whatsoever was Writen aforetime was written for our Learning
calling him a-away he leaves Titus a Bishop there to set in order what was wanting that was upon their good demeanour to advance them into the Power of Bishops which was wanting at St. Pauls departure and the following words make it plain that this was the thing wanting and which he appointed Titus to do By the Direction he gives about them Vers 10 11. For a Bishop must be blameless as the Steward of God a high Office and a large Jurisdiction for there are many unruly there was the Necessity of Bishops to Rule whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole Houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy Lucres sake So that Titus was to make Bishops in that Populous Island that so they might have Authority which as Presbyters they had not to stop the mouths of the Seducers And how were these unruly Subverters to be Treated and Governed even by rebuking them sharply Vers 13. and stopping their Mouths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by silencing them And how could that be done but by the Authority of the Bishop who was to let them and the People know that if they persisted in their disobedience Vers 16. They were abominable and Reprobates and therefore to be cast out of the Church For though they profess to know God yet in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good Work Reprobate Therefore abominable because disobedient Silencing then of Subverters of Houses unruly vain Talkers Deceivers is no new thing in the Church nor Bishops Persecutors for so doing Nor is there any way of stopping their Mouths in the Church but by this Authority of Excommunication and if they submit not to this all their Pretences to Godliness will not excuse them from denying him and being Reprobates because Disobedient What must we then think of those who will not have their Mouths stopped either by the Power of the Church or Civil Magistrate but in the highest degree of Unruly and Mutinous Disorder are Disobedience to both Indeavouring to draw Disciples after them that they may first take away from the Bishop the defence of the Magistrates Sword and then with Ease Extirpate Episcopacy Root and Branch Office and Name Power and Authority THUS you see that the Holy Ghost appointed Bishops in the Primitive Church you see their Office and Authority and that Presbyters were their Lawful Inferiors that they had Power to Ordain to Rebuke to acquit or Condemn to stop the Mouths of the Unruly So that here is both the Name and the Thing the Title and the Office confirmed by clear and evident Testimony of Scripture Now let us see what Obedience is due to them We intreat you Brethren saith St. Paul 1 Thess 5.12 13. and his Modest Intreaty â—â—â—y I hope without offence pass for a Command to know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you And to esteem them very highly in Love for their Works-sake and be at Peace among your selves How know these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Rulers For they could not be ignorant of their Persons or Names but know their Office know their Power that so by submission you may maintain Peace BUT the Author to the Hebrews is plain and Positive Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the Rule over you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word will carry more than some Envious People will well like of in Bishops and will not only intitle them to Rule but their Honour too as will appear to any who is not a stranger to the Greek Language For it signifies not only a bare Ruler or a Guide but a Captain and a Prince and warrants a Bishops being so in the New Testament as well as a Priest under the Old But to avoid Offence I know there are none of those Reverend Fathers of the Church but will be pleased to derive their Titles from another Fountain of Honour I speak this to shew that God Almighty by his Spirit in Scripture is pleased to Honour them with the high Character of Princes and Governors and that therefore they are not to be Vilified and Despised as sonâ—n Wanton and other Virulent Tongues and Pens too frequently do But to proceed He continues to shew what kind of Obedience this must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 submit your selves without resisting be in Subjection And he adds the Reason For they watch for your Souls as they that must give an Account that they may do it with Joy and not with Grief Does God expect an account of Souls from these spiritual Guides and Rulers Then certainly he cannot in Justice leave them Destitute of Power and Authority to Rule and Guide as means to enable them to give a good Account of their Charge And to suppose the contrary were to suppose an End without a Way And since they have such a Charge all those who are within their respective Jurisdictions are bound to yield Obedience to them as they will answer before the Bar of Divine Justice for the Guilt not only of Destroying their own Souls but those of others whom they teach to Refuse to Obey those who have the Rule over them and are appointed Bishops by the Holy Ghost AND whereas St. Peter calls himself a Presbyter and by ranking himself among them seems to intimate they are all one this does not at all prove that he was not a Bishop too 1 Pet. 1.1 For he calls himself Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ and his Humility in calling himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 5.1 their fellow Presbyter does no more prove that a Bishop and Presbyter are the same than that a Presbyter and Apostle are for though they were his fellow Presbyters yet they were not his fellow Apostles and further it appears that these Presbyters of which he calls himself a Sym-Presbyter were Bishops as well as Priests for Writing to the several Churches scattered through Pontus Galatia Cappadocia and Bithynia and calling the Governors of those Churches Fellow Presbyters argues as much but the second Verse puts it out of doubt for he says they must Episcopize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feed the Flock of Christ as Bishops and therefore this place will never prove that the Authority of a bare Presbyter is equal to that of a Bishop or one who was a Fellow Presbyter of Saint Peter LET us see now what the next Age thought of it I will not run through the whole Church-History but content my self with the Testimony of Ignatius who was the Scholar of Saint John the beloved Apostle and Disciple of our Lord who leaned on Jesus's Bosom and one may well suppose therefore knew his Breast and what Government his Lord appointed in the Church and had Episcopacy been Antichristian would not have failed to tell us so and when he tells us there are many Antichrists he would have told us that this was one if he had believed it to be so and
have instructed his Scholar to put down and not Exalt this Antichrist in the Church of God 1 Jo. 2.18 This Ignatius who was afterwards in the Eleventh year of Trajan Crowned with Martyrdom at Rome being torn in pieces by Wild Beasts as Eusebius gives us an account Euseb Eccl. His l. 3. c. 19. 35. he speaks as plain of the Difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter as Pen can write or Heart can wish In his Epistle to the Magnesians Ig. Ep. ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop saith he is seated in the first place as in the place of God and the Presbyters as the Senate of the Apostles And in another place of the same Epistle They says he who Act without a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such Christ will say Why do ye call me Lord Lord and do not the works which I Command you Such Persons seem to me not to be of a good Conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to be Hypocrites and Dissemblers And in his Epistle to the Trallians he Commands them in the Language of the Author to the Hebrews Ignat. Epist ad Trall To be subject unto this Bishop as unto the Lord for he Watches for your souls And in another place he tells them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is absolutely necessary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That you should do nothing without the Bishop Thus we see the Sons of the Church in the first Century of the Apostles of Christ being yet living thought of Bishops as we do And therefore it is both Undeniable and Undubitable that Episcopal Government was of Divine Institution and that a Bishop and a Presbyter are two different things in the Primitive Church both as to Power and as to Name I might bring a whole Cloud of Witnesses of less Antiquity but if these will not convince if the Testimony of Scripture and so Primitive a man and a Bishop as Ignatius be of no value I can have little hopes of convincing Gainsayers by multitude who have abandoned Reason THUS stood the Affairs of the Church for above 300 Years no man making the least Question or Dispute but that the Government by Episcopacy was of Gods appointment one Bishop still succeeding another as in the Ecclesiastical Historians my be seen in most of the Principal Cities of the World Epiphan l. 3. Tom. 1. Haeres 25. till Aerius being Educated with Eustathius and being his equal in Learning and Age took it as a great disparagement that Eustathius was preferred before him to a Bishoprick for which they were Competitors upon this discontent he not only fell foul upon Eustathius objecting as our Aerians do against him Pride and Covetousness but his Resentments for the Mortal displeasure broak out against the whole Function contemning the prescribed Fasts of the Church and teaching by the same Arguments with ours that a Bishop and a Priest were all one by the Scriptures of equal Power Authority and Jurisdiction which saith Epiphanius is an Assertion stultitiae plena full of Folly But this being but one discontented Priests Opinion was neither much regarded nor long lived the current belief of the Scripture and the constant Usage of the Church which knew no other Government run so strong that he was drowned in it nor did the Heresie ever float again till this last Age of which St. Clement who was contemporary to St. Paul and his fellow Labourer Phil. 4.3 as he calls him seems to prophecy in that Epistle of his to the Corinthians which I think was never suspected to be spurious where he tells us there would come a time when there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Ep. ad Cor. a contention about the very name of a Bishop BY virtue of this Power it was that the Rulers of the Church ordered and appointed all things which were done which were of an indifferent Nature in Government as about the Observation of Holy Fasts and Festivals the manner of Celebrating the Service and Worship of God the Prayers and Alms of the Church the Postures Gestures and Habits which were to be made use of and all other Rites and Ceremonies following herein the Scripture as the Rule of Faith and Manners and the General Precepts therein contained as Rules of Government which were principally these FIRST That nothing imposed should be repugnant or contrary to any Article or Branch of Faith or a Holy Life or to any Customs of the Church recorded in Holy Writ SECONDLY That all their Commands might have a respect to Decency Order Reverence and Edification THIRDLY That All might have a tendency to Vnity Peace and Concord and that diversity of Customs and Opinions might not breed Schisms and Contentions and I shewed before how when in some of these things there was a difference in several Churches yet still they held Communion one with another maintaining inviolably the same Faith and Government in all THIS was the Condition of the Church both as to Faith and Polity till such time as the great Powers of the Earth the Roman Emperours and other Kings became Christians and took up the Cross of Christ as the Glory of their Crowns The first of which was Constantine the Great These Temporal Powers then took the Church into their Protection made Temporal Laws for the better Management of it and to preserve it from the Injuries of Heathen Idolaters without and Hereticks within and having the Sword in their hand undertook as it was their Duty to punish Evil doers who darst transgress the Laws of the Church with Temporal Punishments as well as those who broak the Laws of the Civil Magistrate and to incourage the Peaceable and Religious From the Bounty of these Princes and that of others of plentiful Fortunes and and by their Example the Church came to be Endowed with Temporalties and an Honourable Constant and Encouraging Maintainance was provided and settled upon those who were to serve at the Altar that so they might be inabled and furnished with all sorts of Learning well knowing that proportionate Rewards are the spurs to Learning and Virtue as the Wisdom of God for our Encouragement to Pursue and Obtain her tells us Prov. 8.18.3.4 Riches and Honour are with me yea durable Riches and Righteousness and that length of days are in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour And that according to the Apostolical Command 1 Cor 9.11 14. They which sow Spiritual things should also reap Carnal for so hath the Lord commanded that they which Preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel BY this it appears That now there was a double Obligation laid upon all Christians to be Obedient to the Commands of the Church both because they derive their Power from God and because the Temporal Power did now concur to strengthen the Duty by the Obligations of Humane Laws nor can any thing or any pretence of Conscience authorize
for Practice but to the Governors of the Church which all shall be bound to observe for the obtaining Peace and Vnity I have already proved who are those Governors who by the Appointment of the Holy Ghost are to Rule to feed the Flock of Christ to Watch over mens Souls as they that must give an Account to Rebuke Exhort with all long suffering but not with suffering always for if Seducers will persist in subverting houses and vain talking then by proceeding to stopping their Mouths that so they may study to approve themselves unto God Workmen that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth And the Temporal Power of the Civil Magistrate may assist the Spiritual to bring men to Peace Unity and Obedience to these their Guides and Governors by being a Terror to Evil doers and Encouragement to those who do well which is both the Will and the Word of God I know it will be Objected That these Intepreters of Scripture and Judges of Controversies may Err and be deceived Bishops may Err Counsels have Erred and therefore this leaves us still in an Uncertainty since it is possible that we may be misled by them and how shall we be certain they do not Err or we in following them and wherein is it Lawful to refuse to Obey them To this I answer That the Qualificatîon of such a Guide and Interpreter of Scripture as we are to expect is not such a one as cannot Err but such a one as does not Err for had God left us such a Guide besides his own Word and Will there would have been a state of Perfection attainable in this Life and by consequence an Immortality and no necessity of his Divine assistance to keep us by his mighty Power from falling through Faith unto Eternal Salvation such a Guide must have been a God Omniscient Omnipotent and Omnipresent which is as unreasonable to believe as to expect from any or all Mortal Men. And besides it is a vain and frivolous Objection for those who are under any Lawful Government to run into the most dangerous Errors and manifest breach of Gods Command by Schism and Disobedience to the Laws of Men for fear of imaginary danger of future Errors which if they shall really happen we have a plain and easy remedy against them if we know them to be such and that is in our own persons to protest against them and to refuse to Joyn with those that hold them and if we know them not to be so though we be in Error as who lives that does not Err they will do us no injury for it is obstinacy in Error and not bare Error of ignorant frailty that is damnable but we can have no Plea or Excuse to make to God Almighty for our Error of Separation breach of Vnity Peace Order Communion Division from a Church not yet convicted of any manifest Error either in Doctrine or Practice which is the Case between Dissenters and the Church of England And besides every Error in Circumstantials which does not destroy Faith or a good Life is not a sufficient and warrantable Cause for any private Man to throw off all Subjection to his Superiors for if it were there could be no such thing as a Catholique Church or Communion of Saints there being no particular Men or any Society of Men without Sins and by consequence not without Errors both in Doctrine and Practice BUT Secondly The Governours of the Church neither do nor can Err in point of Faith and Doctrine or Discipline and Government so long as they follow the Rule of the Scriptures in Cases plain and clear as before I shewed the Matters of Faith essentially necessary to Salvation are Nor so long as they Judge of such as are dubious according to their Catholiqueness in the Esteem of all Ages of the Church for no Error was ever Universal And though they may be mistaken yet do they not Err if in Interpretation of the more difficult and obscure places of Scripture they indeavour to Expound the meaning of them by others which are more clear and perspicuous following the received sense of them acknowledged so by the Vniversal Church so long as in those Interpretations there can be nothing repugnant to the Common Faith of Christians or prejudicial to Peace Charity and Practical Piety Neither can they Err as to the point of Discipline and the External Polity of the Church if in indifferent things in their own Natures and not Essentially necessary to Salvation they do not impose them as such if they follow the Direction of the General Rules of the Holy Canon that every thing be done with respect to Decency Order Edification for the avoiding Confusion and obtaining Peace Unity and Christian Love according to the Examples of the best Christians in former Ages in the Church and the Canons of such General Counsels as are not found manifestly Guilty of Partiality and Corruption in the long Train of Errors which the Indeavouring to Erect the Primacy into a Supremacy and the Supremacy into a Monarchy has brought into the Roman Church THIRDLY If the Governors of the Church Impose any thing contrary to Scripture Faith or Holy Life then do they forsake the Rule and it is Lawful and Necessary for every good Christian to forsake them for so is St. Paul's Rule 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me as I am of God And praises them for observing the Commandments delivered to them by God But if they fall from the Faith as did the Gnosticks the Manichees the Arrians and many others we are not then to be Followers of them but Followers of God as Dear Children But if any Private man or many shall think because in some things which are contrary to their apprehension that therefore the Determinations are against Scripture and therefore their Obedience not due it is a mistake for they must be certain otherwise they are bound to be subject for if they be not certain and from the best Grounds and clear Evidences it is but their Opinion which cannot weigh enough in the Scale of Truth to warrant their Disobedience against the Publique Opinion of their Superiors but that such a Disobedience will be a certain Sin for if any or many mens Private Opininion which is private Interpretation may authorize them to renounce their Obedience to their Superiors there can never be any such thing as subjection in the World nor any Government and by good consequence No Vnion no Catholique Church and then no Faith and in short at last no such thing as Religion OTHERS will Object That hereby I seem to introduce Romish Infallibility and make our Bishops Lords of our Faith and that we had better submit to one Pope who is as free from Error as other Bishops To this I Answer That there is nothing more contrary to Sense or Truth than such an Objection For I do not make nor believe them Infallible but the Rule by