all from one and whereof many as much detest the Bishop of Rome as any Protestant in England Among all these I say there are some Elders which being separated to holy things by the laying on of hands are ruled and these are called Priests or Presbyters and some which during their life doe rule and these are called Bishops And no reason can be given why all Churches should agree in this unlesse they received it together with their Christianity So that Episcopacy is supported by these three Props Time Place Persons All Histories confirm it the very Maps of the world beare witnesse to it and the Scriptures themselves are not delivered to us with a more universall unquestioned Tradition than the Order of Bishops is As for the Presbyteriall Discipline we can name the Time the Place and the Person that began it The Time for ought we can finde was within this last Age the Place Geneva the Person Iohn Calvin of whom I will onely say thus much That he was a wise man and knowing what was fit and necessary for that Citie stood not upon Names so he had the things But for my owne part I should be sorry to see any Bishop in this Land have such authority over other Ministers as he had at Geneva or Iohn Knox in Scotland And therefore for any man or Church to say that Episcopacy is A Plant that God had not planted but that it is Antichristian is to condemne all Christians as Antichristian and to say that Christ has not been rightly worshipped upon the earth till this last age which whether it be a sober and charitable opinion I submit to consideration In the meane time wee account these proofes which follow insufficient either against Episcopacy or for the Presbyterie 1 That the Office of a Bishop is not found in Scripture because not in the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Ephesians for it may bee and is found somewhere else namely in those to Timothy and Titus Secondly though it were not it being a matter of practice discipline and government the universall Tradition of the whole Catholique Church is sufficient to prove it 2 That all Officers of the New Testament are designed and distinguished by Names but by the way then where are Lay-Elders therefore there are no Bishops for we thinke Bishops Presbyters and Deacons are so distinguished and that those who are not properly Bishops are no more called Bishops in Scripture than those are called Apostles who are not properly Apostles Nay this Author sayes so himselfe For he sayes in one place that a Pastor and a Bishop are one thing pag. 4. line 11. and in another that an Apostle is in degree before a Pastor and a Pastor before a Presbyter and Deacon pag. 4. line 20. therefore if a Pastor and a Bishop be but one thing as indeed the words were anciently used and a Pastor be in degree before a Presbyter as is confessed a Bishop also is indeed before a Presbyter which was the thing required to be proved This we take to be as good a Demonstration as any in Euclids Elements That power Ecclesiasticall is not given to one but to many If hee meane any Power Ecclesiasticall wee deny it for a Presbyter may preach and administer the Sacraments alone If hee meane of some onely the sense will be only that a Bishop in the laying on of hands and use of the Keyes ought to bee assisted by Presbyters in the former he is already The other wee shall not much stand upon In Gods name let it bee so and then those places of Scripture which seem to give Presbyters a share in imposing of hands and use of the Keyes will be no objection As for that place of Kings of Nations the sense will bee but this that those who are greater i. e. higher in degree than others ought to doe all things nor for their owne glory and greatnesse but for the good and utility of those whom they governe rather serving them than ruling them according to our Saviours example who though he were greater than his Disciples yet was among them as one that ministred That all incentives causes provocations and beginnings of evill are forbidden wee acknowledge if they bee in themselves so and not by the craft and malice of the Devill for if so the Sacraments and Scriptures themselves the Law and the grace of God must be removed For these by his malice have been made so That the rules of reformation must be taken from the prime times if the pattern be a thing framed by God we grant but Presbyteriall government is not proved such but that all the Fathers and all Christians in all ages throughout the world have agreed to bring forth Antichrist we cannot beleeve Nor that Prelacy and Popery are unsepaable for the former is in many Churches that detest the later Yea according to this Authors sence of Prelacy even in many Churches of Protestants And whereas he sayes that Episcopacie is a step to Popery those who have read Histories with judgement may remember that the abasing of Episcopacie has beene a great and constant designe of the Papacie and that it was so in the Trent Councell no one thing having more exalted that Mother of abominations the See of Rome than the exempting of Presbyters as Jesuits and others from the power and government of Bishops And I pray God that as villifying of Bishops on the one side by setting up the Presbyters and Deacons of Rome above them has begot an Antichristian Monarchie and tyrannie so the casting them off on the other and setting up Presbyters without Bishops over them doe not produce the greatest confusion Anarchy and Schisme that ever was yet in the Church of Christ Which lest it may bee thought I speake more out of interest than reason I shall desire this Author to looke over his owne principles once againe which are these That whatsoever God has not established in his Church is unlawfull but God has not established that some Pastors should be over others therefore this is unlawfull Now to say nothing of the weaknesse of either proposition I desire him to consider whether the Divines of New England doe not hence rationally conclude that since no Pastors by Gods Word have authority over others therefore no Classes nor no Synods have authoritie over others for that every Minister has his power both of Order and jurisdiction immediately from Christ Jesus and therefore to him onely he is responsable for the doctrine that hee teaches the discipline that hee exercises and the censures that hee inflicts and therefore though it may sometimes bee usefull for Ministers to meet in Synods to consult yet the Decrees they make being but of humane authority doe binde none but those who assent to them and those also no longer than till they alter their opinions and that therefore for any number of Ministers in a Synod to take to themselves authoritie over others who are equall to them
in Dignitie have their commission from Christ as well as they and partake of the Spirit as much or perhaps more than they for the Spirit is not tyed to any number is to set up a humane authoritie that Christ never instituted and to exercise a tyrannie and Poperie of the Presbyterie as bad nay worse than that of the Bishops For the Apostles indeed whose successors the Bishops pretend to be did meet in a Synod and make Decrees to binde the Church but that the Disciples onely or Presbyters ever did so cannot be proved out of Scripture Thus this Author may see what is concluded out of his principles by those who have very logically driven them home to the conclusion they naturally produce that is not from one tyrannie to an other but to an absolute libertie But as for us I pray him to remember that the state of the question between him and us is not as hee pretends whether in the prime times a Bishop were without a Presbyterie under him but whether down from the Apostles a Presbyterie was ever heard of without a Bishop over it This is the thing we desire to see solidly proved That no limitations are sufficient because those of the Assemblies in Scotland were not so is a weake argument Where Assemblies will not tie Parliaments may Whether Prelacy be a cause or a cure of Schismes look but into New England and the divisions that are there among Ministers and their Churches That it is easier to root up the tree than to lop off the branches is perhaps true So it is easier to pull down a House than to repaire it but wee consider not what is easiest but what is best to doe That that government of the Church is most usefull for Kings and Kingdomes which is warranted by Gods Word which is most for preservation of piety righteousnesse and sobriety which makes the face of the Church and Religion glorious not with outward pomp like Kings of Nations but with sound Faith pure worship holy life which conduceth most for truth and peace against schisme and heresie wee heartily confesse and together with all the Christians upon the face of the earth except a few in the West of Europe wee esteem the government by Bishops to be that government That it is no good government which a wise man would not indure in his owne house wee acknowledge and wee know who applyed that saying first against a Democracie and thinke it very fit to be retorted upon those who desire a parity of Ministers for no wise man would indure a parity in his Family As for other arguments that if wee admit not the Presbyterie there will bee jealousies between us and Scotland that there will bee changes and Periods of States of Families and Kingdomes for these are insinuated in this Book and some are reported to have said that the Bishops must downe or much blood will bee shed these we think not proofes but threatnings and fitter for the mouth of a Turkish Dervise who plants Religion by the sword than for a Minister of the Gospel of Christ the summe whereof is Love and therefore cannot be forced but perswaded In the meane time we desire men seriously to consider whether it bee not true and proper Popery to persecute Christians not for publishing but for holding Opinions onely and in what degree the Presbyteriall government uses to bee guilty of this pressure and tyrannie upon the soules and consciences of men As for that Objection that otherwise there will be a schisme betweene us and the reformed Churches though we are heartily grieved at the name only of such a thing we answer that there may bee mutuall charity in those that have a different Discipline and therefore this argument has no good consequence Secondly that the Church of England has hitherto had that prudent Moderation to desire the esteeme and affection not onely of the reformed but of all the Protestant Churches who are more in number and equall in learning and piety to the Reformed Thirdly that it is better for us if it bee Gods will that the reformed doe continue as they are to bee divided from them in this particular onely than from all other Christians of the first three hundred yeeres under persecution of the Heathen Emperours to which ancient Church we desire to be excused if we account the late reformation of Scotland to bee much inferiour in learning in Piety in Patience in Humility in Charity and many other Christian vertues That though the Parliament be for Bishops yet all the godly and religious will be against it we cannot beleeve till it be made plain to us that to resist lawfull authority is a matter of godlinesse or that there is any humility in those that think no Christians are godly and religious but those who are for the Presbytery That the reforming abuses in Episcopall govenment will take long time that we are apt to beleeve but we think this to be no objection But that it being a great and a weighty work and likely to have great influence upon the civill estate it ought to be a businesse of much debate and long deliberation and that it imports not so much to be quickly done as well done Lastly we think the time of perswasion to bee not when men by fraud or force shall effect their ends but when all parties having beene first heard and their Reasons maturely weighed things are setled according to Justice and Piety and this only will produce a setled and well grounded peace not only for the present but for future times And is a consideration well worthy the wisedome and greatnesse of the English Parliaments Thus much be said to those who pretend the necessity the profitablenesse and the divine institution of the Presbyteriall government which they pretend to introduce and of the unlawfulnesse of Episcopall government which they so eagerly oppose Now to those who desire a change and yet confesse their discipline to be a humane institution I shall humbly desire them briefly to consider of this whether they can demonstrate the advantage of that they would introduce to be so exceeding great above this already received the abuses being reformed that it will make abundant amends not only in the present but in all times to come for the danger the Change will produce This that wee have is rooted in the lawes the people are inured to it It has so long agreed with the constitutions of this Monarchy Nay it is agreeable even to that in other states as in Venice to a Republick It is the same that almost all Christians are governed by It has produced men of as great learning and piety and as able oppugnors of the Romane Church as any the Christian world affords and has made our Church so reverenced by the Churches abroad that in the last Archbishops time even as farre as from Alexandria the Patriarch sent a Greek to be educated in our Church to be thereby better
fitted for the government and defence of their own So ready are all Christians but the Romane to desire our Communion which certainely when we cease to have Bishops they will cease to doe Secondly will the conveniences of the new discipline prove so great in effect as they are in promise or as it happens in all humane affaires will not the inconveniences bee much greater in the practice than they are in the speculation or though for the present they doe not yet will they not fall out and multiply daily hereafter Nay is it not a part of prudence to stay some few yeares at the least and in the meane time mending our old discipline as well as we can to consider and looke on upon the effects which that new one will produce in our Neighbour Nation For that the effects of it will not be so great for the temporall happinesse we have some reason to feare remembring the great unquietnesse they suffered even in the height of it And for the eternall happinesse which is infinitely more to be weighed we have some reason also to doubt that this discipline will not produce such marvellous effects as are propounded since many of us can remember heretofore that those persons who had been bred from their youth under a Presbyteriall government though they have beene indeed Persons of great honour and merit yet have not so very farre exceeded either in Truth or Holinesse or Sobriety or Chastity or Charity or Humility or Sweetnesse of a religious conversation those of the same rank in our Nation who had their breeding under this so much detested Episcopall government neither doe we finde more piety abroad under a Presbytery than under a perpetuall presidency of protestant Episcopacy or superintendency and therefore I say it is well worthy a weighty consideration whether there be so great an excellency in that above this as is pretended As for the objection that unlesse we receive this new discipline there will bee heart-burnings between us and the Scotish Nation I answer that I am confident that the Commissioners whom they employ are persons of so great honour and justice that they will account it as unreasonable for their discipline to be pressed upon us as they have done for our Liturgy to be pressed upon them And that there is no more cause why it should be necessary for us to receive their Ecclesiasticall than it is to receive their temporall Lawes they being as much interested to procure with us the change of the one as of the other And wee doubt not the wisdome of the English Parliament to be so great that they can finde a better expedient to secure that Nation in their liberty and Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Civill than by a change of ours heere at home and by taking away from this Church an Apostolicall Institution which it has retained since its first Christianity Otherwise the Scotish Church being by their absolute independant power at liberty to frame new orders daily we also shall consequently be obliged ever to conforme to them or by this reason no peace will be betweene us Thus have I briefly and in a plaine manner unfolded my thoughts for the peace of this Church and such as I hope will rather bring water than oyle to the flame that is kindled If the Author of the Book which is here considered shall think that it is Ambition and desire of Preeminence that causes this short Treatise as he has insinuated to be in all who oppose his designe I shal desire him to remember one thing to know another To remember that there may bee as much ambition in Corah as in Aaron and as much pride in refusing to be governed as in desiring to govern and to consider whether these two speeches are very unlike is there none in the Assembly fit to be president but one page 15. line 4. and this the Congregation is all holy wherefore then lift ye up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Numb. 16. 3. The thing that I desire him to know is this that the Person who writes this is one of them who is to be governed and not to govern and therefore would not have written it had he not bin perswaded that it was most agreeable not only to justice and equity but to the holy Scriptures and all antiquity And for the light which he saies pag. 7. has discovered to the reformers that at the beginning there was no difference of a Bishop from a Presbiter wee desire him not to be too confident of any light which will not abide the discussion of sober Reason and does so suspiciously balke all the ancient writers to be Judges of that namely whether a Bishop were above a Presbiter which they might not only discerne with their minds aswell as we but even see with their eies and as it were experimentally feel with their hands which we cannot but rather that he will remember that of the Apostle that Satan sometimes changes himself into an Angel of light and causes that to be reverenced as an illumination which many times is but an illusion Lastly to those who are obstinate to retain whatsoever is established I shall onely say this that falsehood cannot subsist without some truth to uphold it that something certainly is amisse that causes this generall and constant clamour in which the voice of the whole people being perhaps in some few particulers the voice of God †it would be a sin in us not to hearken to it and I fear it is one cause of our chastisements that we have bin deaf to it so long And here I cannot but commend in this one particular though in some things I must crave leave to diffent from him the prudent Moderation of the Author of the ANTIREMONSTRANCE namely that he fetches his pattern of reformation not from the times of persecution nor from the Eastern Empire being times and circumstances unfit for our Case but from the times of Charles the Great a Prince of great valour and piety and wisdom and learning and governing a people in Customes and Constitutions not unlike to this of ours To conclude that abuses may be taken away and good uses continue and be restored is the desire and prayer of all good and wise men and there being but three things to be considered in the Bishops their Order their jurisdiction their Persons the first is antient and universall almost to all Christians the second where it is extravagant may be limited by good and prudent Laws and their Persons are not so great but the offender may be corrected by a higher Authority I have done humbly submitting whatsoever I have written to the judgement of the holy Catholique Church the Spouse of Christ to my deare Mother the miserably distracted Church of England beseeching God to amend and forgive the Authors and causes of it and to the wisdom and Justice of the High and most Honourable Court of Parliament FINIS †As that the Lords day be intirely kept holy by publike prayers hearing the word and other exercises of Devotion That pietie and godlinesse the substance of Religion be more attended than rites and ceremonies the shadow of it onely That residence on Benifices with Cure and the instruction of souls be mainely attended That the Clergie wait diligently on the Spirituall function without hunting after secular imploiments That the censures of the Church be not issued by Lay-men and that in them reformation of life be more aimed at Especially that all Church government be by Rule and Canon and none left Arbitrarie