if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us But had they been of the Opinion of your Advocates they might have reply'd Our Desertion can never make it manifest that we were not of you Indeed we went out from you and did forsake your Assemblies but notwithstanding this we may be all one with you But we do not find that they had the confidence to make such an Apology II. It has been said that in the Apostles Days there were Independent and Separate Churches planted in the same City And for this the Testimony of a very Learned Conformist has been cited by some who at other times express little regard for it And it is true he tells us that as St. Peter was the Apostle of the Circumcision and St. Paul of the Gentiles so whensoever these two great Apostles came to the same City the one constantly applied himself to the Jews received Disciples of such form'd them into a Church left them when he departed that Region to be govern'd by some Bishop of his own Assignation and the other in like manner did the same to the Gentiles To prove this he urges from Ancient Writers That the Church of Antioch was founded and instructed by St. Peter and St. Paul and consequently that the Jewish part of it was Converted and Rul'd by one and the Gentile by the other That the Decrees of the Council at Jerusalem were peculiarly sent and inscrib'd To the Brethren at Antioch c. Those of the Gentiles that is separately from the Jewish Church in that City c. That it appears from the Apostolical Constitutions that Euodius and Ignatius at the same time sate Bishops of Antioch the one succeeding St. Peter the other St. Paul one in the Jewish the other in the Gentile Congregation That the Separation continued till both Parties were joyn'd and united together under Ignatius That from hence it is that by Origen and Eusebius he is called the Second and by St. Jerome the Third Bishop of Antioch and yet he is as truly said by Athanasius to be constituted Bishop after the Apostles That at Rome the two Apostles met again and each of them there erected and managed a Church St. Peter of the Jews and St. Paul of the Gentiles That as Linus and Clemens were Deacons the one of St. Paul and the other of St. Peter so both afterwards succeeded them in the Episcopal Chair Linus being constituted Bishop of the Gentiles Clemens the Jewish Christians there And that from hence unquestionably grows that variety and difference observ'd amongst Writers some making St. Peter others St. Paul the Founder of that Church but others both of them Some making Clemens others Linus the first Bishop after the Apostles both Affirmers speaking the truth with this Scholion to interpret them Linus was the first Bishop of the Gentile Christians after St. Paul Clemens the first of the Jewish after St. Peter This is the Sum of the most material things that he has said on this Subject but it seems all too infirm to support his Opinion which yet out of the respect that is due to the Authority of so great a Man I shall not reject without giving the Reasons of my Dissent from him And they are these that follow I. However the Work of the Apostles was so distributed by consent that the care of the Jews was especially committed to St. Peter and that of the Gentiles to St. Paul yet they were not limited to either For 1. St. Peter being sent for by Cornelius a Gentile instructed him and those that were come together at his House in the Christian Faith and when they had received it he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord And after this he declar'd in the Council of Jerusalem That God had chosen him for this purpose that the Gentiles by his Mouth should hear the Gospel and believe 2. St. Paul Preach'd in the Synagogues of the Jews at Salamis and Antioch And at Corinth he reason'd in the Synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks At Rome also he expounded and testified to the Jews the Kingdom of God persuading them out of the Law of Moses and out of the Prophets from Morning till Nighs and some believed the things that were spoken tho' some believed not Now as it cannot be thought that when he had converted Jews and Gentiles together he divided them into Separate Congregations so neither is it probable that when St. Peter and he were in the same City Matters were so nicely managed between them that the One pickt out the Jews as belonging to his Province and gather'd them into a Church by themselves and that the Other did the like for the Gentiles No such thing I am sure can be gather'd from the Scripture II. Both these Apostles might be Founders of the Church of Antioch as also of that of Rome and yet neither of these Churches be divided into separate Societies Rome it self had two Founders and yet it was but one City And manifest it is by many other Examples that different Persons acting as one may constitute a Corporation either Ecclesiastical or Civil which is United in all its parts III. The Inscription of the Epistle to the Brethren of the Gentiles that were at Antioch c. does only suppose them to have been chiefly concern'd in the Contents of it and not that they were of a Church distinct from the Jewish Christians It may rather seem if they had been so that the Zealots who came from Judea would not have press'd them to be Circumcis'd after the manner of Moses but left them to enjoy their own way as a Separate Body But the Council having decided the Matter in Debate between them remov'd from both sides all pretences of Division IV. The Writer of the Apostolick Constitutions no where affirms that Euodius and Ignatins sate at the same time Bishops of Antioch He only introduces Peter saying that one of them was Ordain'd by him and the other by Paul which might be afterwards at a great distance of time Malata informs us that after the Death of Euodius Peter being then at Antioch Ignatius receiv'd the Episcopal Dignity and if this be so it may help to put an end to the Dispute about the Order in which he was advanced to that Office V. That Linus and Clemens were at the same time Bishops of Rome hath no better ground than the Testimony of Ruffinus which signifies but little when oppos'd as it is in this case by the whole Stream of Antiquity There are indeed Differences amongst the Fathers concerning the Line of Succession in that See but they are accounted for by an Excellent Hand And if they were not nor would admit of any Reconciliation they would be too weak a Foundation for the
any thing that can make it innocent 1. We are therefore to enquire in the first place whether your Separation before you Conform'd was not Sinful and this may easily be resolv'd for it is clear from what went before that it was causeless and consequently Schismatical Perhaps it may be objected That many of you had never been Members of the Church of England and therefore could not be Deserters of it But to this I reply That if you only joyn'd with the Society that made the Revolt from it you were Partakers in the Offence They that went before you were as a corrupt Fountain and you 〈◊〉 the Streams that issued from it and the fame malignant Quality hath tainted both The Conformists in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth might say of the Brownists or your first Separatists as St. Cyprian did of the Novatians We departed not from them but they departed from us And to you that by Education were brought into the Community of those that Divided the Church we may say as Optatas did to the Donatists Your Ancestors committed that Crime and you labour to walk in their wicked Steps that what your Predecessors had done in the matter of Schism you may appear long since to have acted and still to act They in their Days did break the Peace and you do now banish Vnity To your Parents and your selves these Words may fitly be applied If the Blind lead the Blind they both fell into the Ditch When Manasses the Brother of Jaddus withdrew himself from Jerusalem and officiated as High-priest in the Temple as Garizin which was Built for him by Sanbaâ—et both he and they of his own Nation that concur'd with him acted what was highly criminal But the Matter did not â—â—st here for their Posterity grievously offended in keeping up the Defection which their Predecessors had begun and their Cause was condemn'd upon a fair Tryal before Ptolemaeus Philometer And thus not only they that are first in a Schism but their Followers and such as come into it in succeeding times contract the guilt of it The new Members that are added to the former Schismaticks are together with them of One Body as they that from time to time are added to the Church are of another One thing on which the Dispute between the Advocates for the Temple at Jerusalem and for that at Garizin did mainly turn was the Question on which side was the Ancient Succession of Priests but this was easily determin'd for the former And now if the whole Issue of the Controversiae between the Conformists and Dissenters were put upon this Whether of them have the best Title to a Succession of Lawful Pastors it would not be difficult to decide it For you grant I suppose and it is otherwise evident that such a Succession is continued with us But it appears from what has been said that in your way of Separation you neither had nor can have any such thing Indeed many of the Separatists had Episeopal Ordination but some of them renounced it and as in Mockery Ordain'd one another Others made no such Abdication as the former yet withdrawing themselves from their Bishops they exercis'd their Office in such a manner as is directly against their own Solemn Promise and Sacramental Engagement But none of them had power to constitute other Presbyters or in the Language of Epiphanius to give Fathers to the Church As for the rest of your Teachers they are meer Laymen and act under a false Character in Matters of the highest importance to the Souls of Men. So that you could be Followers of none of the Dissenting Guides without Schism and a breach of Obedience where it was due but with some of them you could not Communicate without bearing a part in their Impostures 2. If your former Separation was Sinful your Return to it must be Sinful also It must be so in a higher degree because a Relapse into Sin after Reformation is a greater Offence than the first Commission of it It had been better therefore that you had not known the way of Peace than after you had experience of it to forsake it Better that you had not come into the Unity of the Church than to break it again You are now become more inexcusable than you were before and thus far your latter end is worse than your beginning 3. If your Separation was otherwise Sinful the Law hath not alter'd 〈◊〉 Case or done any thing that can makâ—â— it Innocent I need say nothing of the Toleration which was granted to you by the Dispensing Power and drew you into the Snare For I suppose you ground your present Liberty on the Act of Parliament But if you 〈◊〉 not within the Intent of that Act it leaves you where it found you and can aâ—ford nothing for your Justification The Act it self will best satisfie you of this and upon perusal of it you will find that it was only design'd to give ease to Tender Consciences but yours are not of that Number Indeed we cannot penetrate into your Hearts but Charity obliges us to believe that you did not come to our Churches with Doubts and Fears upon you that your Conformity was unlawful but were generally well assur'd that it was consistent with your Duty and agreeable to the Holy Scriptures But this is the very thing which cuts you off from the Indulgence which you claim by the Law That being design'd only for Perâ—â—ns of another Character But what hath the Law done for the Scrupulous Hath it approv'd their several ways or set them all in the right That cannot be for they are inconsistent and contradict one another It only tolerates them and we may tolerate Pain and Sickness and other Evils from which we have a great aversion But they remain Evils still and so must Church-Divisions under any Dispensation whatsoever The Law says this for the Scrupulous that upon the Conditions to be performed by them they shall not be liable to any Pains Penalties or Forfeitures laid on them by some former Acts nor shall they be Prosecuted in any Ecclesiastical Court for their Nonconforming to the Church of England But this can never justifie their Nonconformity For if the Punishments against profaning the Lord's Day and common Swearing and other things of that Nature were taken off they would still be criminal as they were before and the like may be said of Schism As long as it is condemn'd in Scripture no humane Allowance or Permission can make it Lawful If Heresie and Schism were enjoyn'd by a Law which is more than an Allowance or Toleration of them they would not be freed from their Malignity or cease to be Sinful But to the Imposers of things so contrary to Divine Revelation and Institution we should have reason to say Whether it be right in the Sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye I am far from derogating from the Authority of
of Schism III. You may enquire whether the Pastors you have chosen have any Lawful Call to the Ministry Some of the Dissenters I know do not think themselves much concern'd about this For they tell us It is the Duty of every Gifted Man as such to exercise his Gifts that if he has receiv'd Gifts to teach publickly he must exercise them publickly and that he himself may be the Judge of his own Gifts But says Mr. Pool a Learned Nonconformist What can be expected but that this Doctrine should be a Trojan Horse whence the Adversaries of Truth may break out and destroy the City of God A Pandora's Box from whence all sorts of mischievous and foul poysoning Opinions may fly out and that without Remedy And say the Assembly of Divines This Opinion That any who suppose themselves Gifted Men may Preach the Word and Administer the Sacraments we judge to be the Highway to all Disorder and Confusion and Inlet to Errors and Heresies and a Door open'd for Priests and Jesuits to broach their Popish and Antichristian Doctrine There are some it seems lately risen up amongst us that are in expectation of New Priests and Prophets who will be alter'd they say by such a Visible appearance of Majesty in their very Countenance as may be call'd the Writing of the Father's Name upon their Foreheads as it was with Moses when he came from Conversing with God and with our Blessed Lord himself when the Clouds of Glory overshadowed him And this at present may be thought a harmless Opinion however there be no foundation for it But the Patrons of it we see can adventure upon Predictions and New Revelations without any such splendor upon them as they describe and how much farther they may proceed we know not As for your selves I suppose that there are few if any of you that ascribe the Call of your Pastors or their Distinction from other Men to a Miracle but you generally believe that to constitute them in their Office some Ordination is necessary or Expedient at least whether it be perform'd by a Bishop or by Presbyters or by the People For there are those amongst you who lay claim to their Ministry these several ways 1. Some of them I confess had Episcopal Ordination But since these must have solemnly promis'd that they would obey their Ordinary I would have you consider how the Blessing of Heaven can be expected on their Work as now it is managed when it is a continual Breach of that Engagement Yet if they had made no such Engagement their Separation from their Bishops to whom they owe Obedience and from the Church to which they ought to be united their passing beyond their Line and their drawing Disciples after them which belong not to them their gathering Churches out of sound Churches and opposite to them and their administring the Sacraments which are the Bond of Vnion in a dividing way are things highly Schismatical And however such Men may be eminent for their personal Abilities yet in their exercise of them if we may believe St. Ignatius they serve the Devil Before I come to examine other Pretences of your Teachers to the Ministry give me leave to put you in mind that the Elders and Messengers of the Congregational way who met at the Savoy confess'd That in respect of the publick and open Profession either of Presbytery or Independency this Nation hath been a Stranger to each way it 's possible ever since it hath been Christian And the like they might have said of all other Christian Nations The truth is neither of those Sects were anciently in being and then we are not like to hear of their Ordinations It is but of late that they appear'd and therefore we have the more reason to enquire whether there be any ground for their Establishment or what Right they have to make such Changes in the Church as they every where attempt If a Person should now profess that he was sent to Dethrone all Kings and to New-model all Governments he would have no cause to be angry if we propos'd these Questions to him By what Authority doest thou these things And who gave thee this Authority And if Men will be now endeavouring to Depose or Degrade all Bishops to abrogate their Office and overthrow their Chairs and to set up a Discipline which was unknown to all the Churches upon Earth they may not be offended if we desire a sight of their Commission The Prophet Jeremiah was set over the Nations and over Kingdoms to root out and to pull down to build and to plant That is he was not to make these great Turns of Affairs himself but only to Prophesy of them and to do this it was manifest that he was appointed of God But some would perswade us that they may act as great Matters as he was to foretell That they may destroy that sort of Government which hath been transmitted down to us from the Apostles throughout all succeeding Ages and was established in all Christian Nations and that they may introduce another that was unknown to Antiquity and for above a Thousand Years after Christ not receiv'd by any Church in the World We have therefore reason to demand of them a sight of such Credentials as make it plain that they are sent of God And since they have been so forward to make Invasions on an Order of Men which hath been in possession of Ecclesiastical Authority for above Sixteen Hundred Years they must pardon us if we question their own Title to it or say to them as Optatus did to the Donatists Who are ye and from whence did ye come I have nothing here to do with Forreign Protestants whose Call they say to the Pastoral Office was Extraordinary But my Business at present is with your Teachers who pretend to no such thing or if they do may be easily refuted They have taken upon them the Sacred Function in a New way a way that was never approv'd in Ancient times and therefore we may demand a sight of the Patent by which they would justifie their Innovations H. Amongst the Innovatom I doubt we shall find the second 〈◊〉 of your Teachers which I have mention'd and these are they who claim a Title to the Ministry as being Ordain'd by Presbyters They would be thought I know to be of very Antient Extraction and for this quote these Words of St. 〈◊〉 to Timothy Neglect not the Gift that is in thee which is given unto thee by Prephecy with the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery And this Text of Seripture they take to be so evident are their fide that they urge it frequently and to comply with their Interpretation of it they wrest other Passages which make directly against them So that on this one place the whole Fabrick of their Cause seems to depend Yet is this place so far from plainly asserting the
thing for which they contend that Calvin himself who was the Father of their Discipline could find in it no such Matter For he thought that Presbytery here signifies the Office of a Presbyter and then the meaning would be that Timothy should not neglect but be careful to exercise that Presbyterial Office or Power which was committed to him by Laying on of Hands So that if the greatest Patron of Presbytery and one that had Sagacity enough to discover what might be advantagious to it was not mistaken this Passage of Scripture affords it no support Mr. Selden favours the Interpretation of Calvin and confirms it with Citations from the Story of Susanna from Josephus from Eusebius and from the Council of Ancyra Yet remaining something doubtful of the true meaning of the Word he censures those who from this single place of the New Testament and that of an Vncertain Reading and Sense form'd such strange Notions of the Jurisdiction of a Christian Presbytery as if it had been then founded on a Divine Institution Nevertheless let us suppose that by the Presbytery we are to understand the Persons that did bear the Office we are not certain from the Expression it self who are here intended by it For it is a Name of Dignity not always taken in its limited Sense but sometimes attributed to Ecclesiastical Officers of the highest Rank St. John twice calls himself a Presbyter in his Epistles and St. Peter assumes the same Title where he says The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder And now the Question is Whether the Supream or Inferiour Presbyters Ordained Timothy That is Whether they did it who had power to Ordain him or they who as far as we can find never had any such Authority And this I think admits of an easie Resolution We do not find in Scripture that to mere Presbyters any such Authority was ever committed nor are there any Footsteps of it in Antiquity But if they must be thought to have quitted it presently after the Apostles Days there were never Men that at such a vast distance of place so Universally and all on a suddain conspir'd to degrade themselves and to yield up their Rights tamely without any Complaint Yet with so much Artifice must they be imagin'd to have betray'd their Trust and cover'd their Shame that no Discovery was made of it for Fifteen Hundred Years We hear of no claim of any such Power made by any Presbyters before the Fourth Century when Aerius and others oppos'd Episcopacy But they were expell'd from the Churches and could no where gain an Establishment nor are they of such a Character as may give Reputation to any Cause Yet if mere Presbyters might Constiture others of their own Character it doth not follow that they could Ordain Timothy who was a Bishop and had Jurisdiction over them as I have shew'd in another place They could not give what they never had nor communicate a Power which they had never receiv'd Thus the Fathers argue in the case And on another occasion Salmasius himself asserts That such reasoning is good concerning the Conveyance of an Authority which is of Divine Institution as that is which is now in question The Dissenters I know contend that Timothy was not a Bishop but an Evangelist and Evangelists say they were Extraordinary Officers they were Companions of the Apostles and of a higher Rank than Pastors But if this be admitted doth it at all mend the matter Who ever saw or read says Salmasius that they who were to have Extraordinary Power were delegated by those who had no more than Ordinary Can you imagine that mere Presbyters can Ordain an Evangelist whose Office was so much Exalted above their own Can you really believe when there is no Revelation for it no Ground for any such thing that the Private Ministers of a Congregation appointed Collegues for the Apostles Surely it is more probable at least if it could not otherwise be discover'd that the Apostles made choice of their own Fellow-Labourers to whom as there was opportunity they committed the Government of the Churches Yet to prevent all câ—villing as much as possible let us suppose what I do not grant That the Persons in the Text were mere Presbyters it does not prove that others who at this time assume that Title have the Power of Ordaining Presbyters and if they attempt it there is nothing in the Text that may be for their Vindication To make this appear 1. It is to be observ'd that St. Paul himself Ordain'd Timothy and says to him on that occasion I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the Gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my Hands And if he condescended to call to his assistance some Inferiour Officers for the greater Solemnity of the Action it does not follow that they could do it of themselves without him and much less that they could do it in opposition to him or any other that should be in the same Station 2. If mere Presbyters had the Power of Ordination when they are suppos'd to have confer'd it on Timothy it may well be thought to have been some Personal Priviledge which died with them for we find no marks of it in succeeding Times St. Jerome who of all the Fathers is the greatest Favourite of the Presbyterians says That originally a Presbyter was the same as a Bishop and that at first the Churches were govern'd by the Common Council of Priests till by the Instigation of the Devil Divisions did arise and one said I am of Paul and another said I am of Apollos or I of Cephas and then it was decreed all over the World That one chosen out of the Presbytery should be placed over the rest that to him the whole Care of the Church might be committed and so the Seeds of Schism be extirpated And if he has truly related the Matter this Change must have been made when many of the Apostles were alive and transacted by themselves And we need not doubt but when the New Prelates were Constituted they were Distinguish'd from all Inferiour Officers by the Power of Ordination Certain it is that afterwards this Power was every where thought peculiar to the Bishops and when they had been in possession of it much above a Thousand Years common Equity requires that we should judge them to have had it by Right unless the contrary do appear But there is no Ground to believe that they were Usurpers of it No probability that they would ingross it to themselves especially in the early Times when they were generally such Mighty Instances of Humility and Meekness of Patience and Self-denial There is not the least Complaint leâ—t us of any such thing nor is it at all credible that they should so universally attempt it or if they did that they should have the same success in all the Churches upon Earth It follows