and this Realm received the same according to the commandments of God And that they might the better understand what the Lord hath commanded therein this Church did appoint also that at the ordering of Priests there be read for the Epistle that portion of Acts 20. which relates St. Paul's sending to Ephesus and calling for the Elders of the Congregation with his exhortation to them to take heed to themselves and to all the flock among whom the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers to rule the congregation of God Or else 1 Tim. 3 which sets forth the Office and due qualifications of a Bishop These portions of Scripture this Church appointed to be read to the Presbyters as belonging to their Office and to instruct them in the nature of it And afterwards the Bishop speaks to them that are to receive the office of Priesthood in this form of words You have heard brethren as well in your private examination as in the exhortation and the holy lessons taken out of the Gospel and the Writings of the Apostles of what dignity and of how great importance this Office is whereunto ye are called That is to say the Messengers the Watchmen the Pastors and Stewards of the Lord to teach to premonish to seed to provide for the Lords Family I acknowledg that the passages here alledged are taken out of the old Book of Ordination that was established in this Church till the late alterations made Anno 1662. if those alterations signifie another meaning about the several Holy Orders than what was signified in the old Book then the sense of the Church of England in these times differs from the sense of the same Church in all times preceding the said Alterations but if they signifie no other meaning than what was signified in the old Book my citations are of force to shew what is the sense of this Church as well of the present as of the former times about this matter Here I must take notice that in opposition to part of what hath been alledged it was asserted That that part of 1 Tim. 3. which contains the office and qualification of a Bishop was read at the Ordination of Presbyters not because it belonged to their Office but because it was joyned with that which follows touching the office of a Deacon then likewise read as properly concerning the office of a Presbyter pretended to be no other than the Deacon there mentioned To this I answer If the Presbyter in the Church of England be indeed no other than the Deacon spoken of 1 Tim. 3. it seeâ—â— strange that this Church yea and the Universal Church should so miscall an Officer as to give him a name viz. Presbyter which the Scripture always appropriates to another Officer as is pretended and to neglect the Scripture name of this Office viz. Deacon It is strange that an Officer said to be no other than the Deacon there spoken of should have the power of the keys the same form of Ordination which Christ used towards his Apostles If it were so it is likewise strange that the qualifications of the said Deacon should be appointed to be read at the Ordination of a Presbyter as properly belonging to him and also at the Ordination of a Deacon inferior to a Presbyter as properly belonging to him the former part of the Chapter touching a Bishop being omitted Besides all this the new Book of Ordination puts the matter out of doubt and evidently refutes the aforesaid evasion For in it the latter part of 1 Tim. 3. beginning at verse 8. touching the Office of Deacon is appointed to be read at the ordering of Deacons and the same is not appointed to be read at the ordering of Priests but another portion of Scripture viz. Eph 4. 7 c. Furthermore if the Deacon mentioned in Timothy be no other than the subject Presbyter I would know in what place of Scripture the Deacon of the Church of England inferior to a Presbyter is set forth And be it noted that the Deacon of this Church is not so much the Deacon of Tables as of the Word and therefore a Presbyter must needs be degraded in being made no more than a Deacon of the Word Hitherto I have insisted on the nature of my Office and have proved it to be the Office of a Pastor Now I proceed to prove That in my present state I am bound to fulfil it Being dedicated to this Ministry I stand under a perpetual obligation to fulfil it according to my ability and opportunity and as the necessity of souls requireth of me And whatsoever some think the thing is most evident That the souls of men cry aloud for all the help that can possibly be given them by those whom Christ hath qualified and called to the work of the Ministry whethâ—r Conformists or Nonconformists This apprehension reflects no dishonour upon conscientious Conforming Ministers for whose ability and industry I bless God But the number of them is not so proportionable to the people of this Land as to make the labours of those that are cast out to be needless The harvest is great and the labourers are too few As for this City in which are six Parishes within the Gates besides two in the Suburbs I leave it to the consideration of those that know the state thereof whether there be sufficient care taken for the preaching of the Gospel when as there is no setled preaching on the Lords days or week days in any of the Parish Churches The Parish in which I dwell hath for many years had no Minister at all and the two Parishes without the Gates for many years have had neither Ministers nor Churches in one of which is the house that was licensed by his Majesty for our meeting The only setled preaching is at the Cathedral performed sometimes by the Superior Clergy but mostly by a greater number of others in their courses who generally living at a distance cannot be so well known to the people as their appointed Teachers ought to be and let them that know the place of preaching consider and judg whether it can contain the inhabitants if all should repair thither I pass not to be despised or judged by them who make slight work of the cure of Souls for whom Christ hath given himself a ransom Certainly they are more precious than to be exposed to perish for lack of sufficient instruction and exhortation rather than preachers authorized by Christ if silenced by men when not disobedient to any ordinance prescribed by his word should speak to them that they might be saved The necessary means of saving souls such as is the due publick preaching of the Gospel together with personal instruction is incomparably more valuable than the maintaining of uniformity in little opinions and ceremonies and other accidental forms and orders § 2. That I am not obliged either by the Nature of my Office or by any Oath or Promise or by being under the
heavy on one mans shoulders as he thought it did formerly on the Bishops here But I do not as yet discern the divine Right of Episcopacy in the state and priviledges thereof here following wherein I desire information and would gladly receive satisfaction if there be such divine Rights indeed None can be justly offended with me for examining in my own defence that Right which I am accused to have invaded do not discern that a Bishop infimi gradus I mean one that hath none under him but Parish-Ministers who are pretended to have no Episcopal governing-power I say I discern not that such a Bishop can by divine Right challenge to himself alone the Episcopal Authority over hundreds of particular Churches For every particular Church should have its proper Pastor or Bishop And particular Churches with their proper Pastors are so evidently of Divine Right that some eminently learned men in the Church of England have declared their judgment That no Form of Church-government besides the meer Pastoral Office and Church-assemblies is prescribed in the Word of God but may be various according to the various condition and occasion of several Churches Neither do I discern how it is possible for one man to do the work of a bishop towards hundreds of Churches I mean the work of a bishop infimi gradus under whom there are no subordinate Bishops or Pastors For the work of such a bishop is to oversee all the Flock to preach to them all to baptize and confirm all that are to be baptized and confirmed to administer the Lords Supper to all to bless the Congregation publickly and privataly to admonish all as their need requires to excommunicate the impenitent to absolve the penitent and that upon knowledg of their particular estate If such a Diocesan bishop saith it sufficeth that he perform all this to the Flock by others namely by the Parish-Ministers as his Curates and by other Officers his Substitutes it is answered 1. That the Pastoral Authority is a personal trust 2. It is desired that he shew his Commission from Christ the Prince of Pastors to do his work by others for I am now inquiring what is of divine and not of humane Right 3. None but a bishop can do the proper work of a bishop But if it be said That the Parochial Congregations are not Churches but only parts of the Diocess which is the lowest particular Church I desire proof from Scripture That such Congregations as our Parishes having their proper Presbyter or Presbyters invested with the power of the keys are not particular Churches properly so called The reason of my desire of this proof is because the Scripture is a perfect Rule for the Essential constitution of Churches tho accidents there unto belonging may be regulated by humane prudence 2. It is most evident in Scripture that a particular Congregation of Christians having their proper Pastor or Pastors Presbyter or Presbyters are Churches properly so called And a Parochial Minister I conceive to be a Pastor or Elder according to the Scripture Moreover if a Diocess containing a hundred two hundred five hundred or a thousand Parishes as somewhere it doth do constitute but one particular Church and those particular Parishes be not properly to be accounted Churches but only so many parts of that one Diocesan Church why may not ten thousand yea ten times ten thousand Parishes be likewise accounted but one particular Church and brought under one man as sole Bishop or Pastor thereof In all this I have not argued against the right of an Arch-Bishop or Overseer of other Bishops such as Titus must needs be if he were Bishop of Crâ—te where Bishops or Elders were to be ordained in every City If either Scripture or Prudence guided by Scripture be for such an office I oppose it not and nothing here spoken makes against it If our Diocesan Bishops be in very deed Arch-Bishops or OOverseers of inferior Bishops to wit Parish-Ministers I do not here argue against it but only say that in their Archiepiscopal Diocess or Province they cannot exercise their authority any otherwise than according to the rules of Gods word for the edification and peace of the Church and that they cannot discharge the inferior Bishops from their obligation to Christ whose immediate Ministers and Stewards they are and to whom they are immediately accountable Moreover I do not discern that any Bishop can by divine right so challenge or claim such a circuit of ground for his Diocess as for example the County of Sussex as that thereupon he can by the said right prohibit all other Pastors whatsoever to do the work of the Ministry in any case without his licence within such a circuit of ground or that such a measure of ground is related to his Episcopal office as a propriety for government Ecclesiastical like as certain territories and dominions are as a propriety in reference to Civil government related to the temporal Soveraingty of a Prince The partition of one Church from another by local bounds is not of divine institution but of humane prudence from the convenience of the thing I say convenience not absolute necessity And the state of things may be such as to compel to vary from it in some particulars It is supposed by learned men that in the Apostles times there were several Churches at Rome under their several Bishops or Pastors in the same local bounds as one of the Circumcision and another of the Uncircumcision And if it were not so de facto I think few will deny but that it lawfully might have been so If upon the aforesaid diversity of condition in the persons namely as being of different nations and languages there may be several Churches under several Bishops or Pastors within the same local bounds why not also upon other diversity of condition which may render them as uncapable of being of the same particular Church as if they were of divers nations One instance may be an unmovable diversity of persuasions about points of Religion As for example Why may not Lutherans and Calvinists of the same nation town or village have their several Churches under their several Pastors and live in peace Nothing could hinder the said peace but want of Christian Humility and Charity And consequently why among us may not Christians that have invincible diversity of persuasions in matters of Church Government live peaceably within the same precincts in their several Churches Besides all this if the local bounds assigned for one mans immediate Pastoral charge be so vast and the multitude of Souls therein be so great as to render it impossible for any one man to fulfil that charge towards them can it be judged an usurpation against dwine right if another Pastor without license from him should perform ministerial service within those bounds Likewise let it be 〈…〉 ered what may or may not be done in any circuit of gro 〈…〉 â—here the inhabitants are destitute of competent provision
the Right of the Bishop upon the account of exercising the Ministry where he is the Pastor 4. That I make a Schism in the Church 5. That I violate the Authority of the Civil Magistrate To these particulars the several Heads of my Defence following are a direct Answer 1. That I have received from Christ the Office of a Pastor mentioned Eph. 4. 11. and that I am bound in my present state to fulfil it 2. That I am not obliged either by the nature of my Office or by any oath or promise or by being under the regulation of Authority to exercise my Ministry no otherwise than as in subordination to and as authorised and regulated by the Bishop of the Diocess 3. That I invade not the Right of the Diocesan Bishop in exercising the Ministry where he claims the right of being the Pastor 4. That I do not violate any true bonds of Church-Unity nor in any respect cause divisions and offences 5. That I do not violate the Authority of the Civil Magistrate § 1. That I have received from Christ the Office of a Pastor mentioned Eph. 4. 11. And that I am bound in my present state to fulfil it THE Ministry that I have received is the sacred office of Presbyterate to which I am ordained according to the form of Ordination that was established in the Church of England That this office is of divine right I take for granted and that according to the Scripture it is the office of a Pastor mentioned Eph. 4. 11. I thus prove 1. Wheresoever this office is set forth in the Scripture it is set forth as the office of a spiritual Pastor or Bishop which is to feed the Flock of God by teaching and ruling it And a Presbyter who is a sacred Officer of the Christian Church but not a Bishop or Pastor is no where mentioned in Scripture If it be said that this Office is otherwise set forth in Scripture or that a Presbyter who is a sacred Officer of the Christian Church yet no Bishop is there mentioned let the Assertor shew the place or places If it be said that this Order of Presbyterate may be of divine instâ—tution yet not defined or expressed in Scripture I desire satisfactory proof from some other Authority both of its being of divine institution and what its nature is 2. To have the Power of the keys of binding and loosing of remitting and retaining sins in Christs name as his commissioned officer is to have Episcopal or Pastoral Power and this Power belongs to the said Office of Presbyterate Forasmuch as some distinguish the Power of the keys into that which is in in foro interiore or the Court of Conscience within and that which is in foro exteriore in the exterior Court to wit that of the Church the former of which is said to belong to the Bishop and the Presbyter and the latter to the Bishop only I further inforce my argument 1. The Scripture makes no such distinction and where the Law distinguisheth not we may not distinguish 2. The distinction in this case is vain for all power that belongs to the Pastors of the Church purely respects the Conscience and it respects the Conscience as having the conduct of the outward man and that in reference to Church communion as well as other matters 3. If Presbyters may in the name of Christ bind the impenitent and loose the penitent as to the conscience which is the greater and primary binding and loosing then by parity of reason and that with advantage they may bind and loose as to Church-communion which is the lesser secondary and subsequent binding and loosing 3. That Officer is a Pastor or Bishop that hath a power of Authoritative declaring or judging in Christs name that this or that wicked person in particular is unworthy of fellowship with Christ and his Church and of charging the congregation in Christs name not to keep company with him as being no fit member of a Christian society also a Power of authoritative declaring or judging in Christs Name that the same person repenting of his wickednes and giving evidence thereof is meet for fellowship with Christ and his Church and of requiring the congregation in Christs Name again to receive him into their Christian fellowship for these powers are no other than the powers of Excommunication and Ecclesiastical absolution Now the Presbyter hath apparently the said Powers as he can undoubtedly declare and judg and charge as aforesaid touching this or that person or particular all particulars being included in the general he hath undoubtedly a Power of applying the Word in Christs Name as well personally as generally 4. For the further clearing of what is already argued let it be considered that an Authoritative Teacher in the Church commissioned by Christ is also a Pastor for the government of a Pastor is only by the Spiritual Sword which is the Word of God and the discipline which he exercises is no more than the personal application of the same word to judg the impenitent and to absolve the penitent in Christs Name and he that Authoritatively teaches in Christs Name as the Presbyter doth can do so much in the personal Application of the Word 5. The Pastoral Authority of Presbyterate is further cleared by many passages in the publick forms of the Church of England touching that order In the very form of my ordination according to the ancient use of this Church I received the office of a Pastor and Successor of the Apostles I mean not in their Apostolick but Pastoral office The form was this Receive the holy Ghost whose sins thou remittest they are remitted and whose sins thou retainest they are retained and be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God and his Holy Sacraments in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Now the former part hereof is intirely and compleatly the form of Words used by our Saviour Joh. 20. 22 23. towards the Apostles expressing their Pastoral Authority and the latter part Be tbou a faithful dispenser c. is no derogation or diminution from the Power granted in the former part If the Presbyters are not the Apostles successors in the Pastoral Authority how could they have right to that form of ordination In the form of ordering Priests or Presbyters in one of the prayers after the mentioning of Christs sending abroad into the world his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Doctors Pastors there follows thanksgiving to God for calling those that were then to be ordered Priests to the same Office and Ministry of salvation of mankind Whence it appears that this Office is the same with some of the forementioned kinds And what can it be but that of Doctors and Pastors This Church did before the last alteration made Anno 1662. in solemn form of words require the Presbyters when they were ordained to exercise the discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded