prove too much that there should be no power at all among Churchmen over other Christians For since the parallel runs betwixt the Disciples and the Lords of the Gentiles it will run thus that tho the Lords of the Gentiles bear rule over their people yet you must not over yours so that this must either be restricted to Civil Authority or else it will quite strike out all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction But how this should be brought to prove that there may not be several ranks in Church Offices I cannot yet imagine And as it is not thought contrary to this that a Minister is over your Lay-Elders and Deacons why should it be more contrary to it that a rank of Bishops be over Ministers In a word since we find the Apostles exercising this paternal authority over other Churchmen it will clearly follow they understood not Christ as hereby meaning to discharge the several ranks of Churchmen with different degrees of power But to tell you plainly what by these words of CHRIST is clearly forbidden I acknowledg that chiefly the Pope's pretence to the Temporal Dominion over Christendom whether directly or indirectly as the Vicar of CHRIST is expresly condemned Next all Churchmen under what notion or in what Judicatory soever are condemned who study upon a pretence of the Churches intrinsick power to possess themselves of the authority to determine about obedience due to Kings or Parliaments and who bring a tyranny on the Christians and prâ—cure what by Arts what by Power the secular Arm to serve at their beck Whether this was the practice of the late General Assemblies or not I leave it to all who are so old as to remember how squares went then and if the leading Men at that time had not really the secular power ready to lacquay at their commands so that they ruled in the spirit of the Lords of the Gentiles whatever they might have pretended And the following change of Government did fully prove that the obedience which was universally given to their commands was only an appendage of the Civil Power which was then directed by them For no sooner was the power invaded by the Usurper who regarded their Judicatories little but the Obedience payed to their Decrees evanished Thus I say these who build all their pretences to parity on their mistakes of these words did most signally despise and neglect them in their true and real meaning Now think not to retort this on any additions of Secular Power which the munificence of Princes may have annexed to the Episcopal Office for that is not at all condemned here CHRIST speaking only of the power Churchmen as such derived from him their Head which only bars all pretensions to Civil Power on the title of their Functions but doth not say that their Functions render them incapable of receiving any Secular Power by a secular conveyance from the Civil Magistrate And so far have I considered this great and pompous argument against precedency in the Church and am mistaken if I have not satisfied you of the slender foundations it is built upon all which is also applicable to St. Peter's words of not Lording it over their flocks Isot. You are much mistaken if you think that to be the great foundation of our belief of a parity among Churchmen for I will give you another page 91. which is this that IESUS CHRIST the head of his Church did institute a setled Ministery in his Church to feed and over-see the Flock to preach to reprove to bind loose c. It is true he gave the Apostles many singular things beyond their Successors which were necessary for that time and work and were to expire with it But as to their Ministerial Power which was to continue he made all equal The Apostles also acknowledged the Pastors of the Churches their fellow-laborors and Brethren And the feeding and overseeing the Flock are duties so complicated together that it is evident none can be fitted for the one without they have also authority for the other And therefore all who have a power to preach must also have a right to govern since Discipline is referable to preaching as a mean to its end preaching being the great end of the Ministery These therefore who are sent upon that work must not be limited in the other neither do we ever find CHRIST instituting a Superiour Order over preaching Presbyters which shews he judged it not necessary And no more did the Apostles though they with-held none of the Counsel of GOD from the flock Therefore this Superior Order usurping the power from the preaching Elders since it hath neither warrant nor institution in Scripture is to be rejected as an invasion of the rights of the Church In fine the great advantage our Plea for parity hath is that it proves its self till you prove a disparity For since you acknowledg it to be of divine Right that there be Officeâ—s in the House of GOD except you prove the institution of several Orders an equality among them must be concluded And upon these accounts it is that we cannot acknowledg the lawfulness of Prelacy Phil. I am sure if your Friends had now heard you they would for ever absolve you from designing to betray their cause by a faint Patrociny since you have in a few words laid out all their Forces but if you call to mind what hath heen already said you will find most of what you have now pleaded to be answered beforehand For I acknowledge Bishop and Presbyter to be one and the same Office and so I plead for no new Office-Bearers in the Church Next in our second Conference the power given to Churchmen was proved to be double The first branch of it is their Authority to publish the Gospel to manage the Worship and to dispense the Sacraments And this is all that is of divine right in the Ministery in which Bishops and Presbyters are equal sharers both being vested with this power But beside this the Church claims a power of Jurisdiction of making rules for discipline and of applying and executing the same all which is indeed suitable to the common Laws of Societies and to the general rules of Scripture but hath no positive warrant from any Scripture precept And all these Constitutions of Churches into Synods and the Canons of discipline taking their rise from the divisions of the World into the several Provinces and beginning in the end of the second and beginning of the third Century do clearly shew they can be derived from no divine Original and so were as to their particular form but of humane Constitution therefore as to the management of this Jurisdiction it is in the Churches power to cast it in what mould she will and if so then the constant practice of the Church for so many ages should determine us unless we will pretend to understand the exigencies and conveniences of it better than they who were nearest the Apostolical time But we
Christians who were designed and ordained for diffusing the Gospel through the Cities Villages and Places adjacent and these Presbyters were as the Bishop's Children educated and formed by him being in all they did directed by him and accountable to him and were as Probationers for the Bishoprick one of them being always chosen to succeed in the seat when vacant through the Bishop's death Now all these lived together as in a little College and were maintained out of the charitable Oblations of the People which were deposited in the Bishop's hands and divided in four parts one falling to the Bishop another to the Clergy a third to the Widows and Orphans and other poor Persons and a fourth to the building of edifices for Worship Thus the Churches were planted and the Gospel was disseminated through the World But at first every Bishop had but one Parish yet afterwards when the numbers of the Christians encreased that they could not conveniently meet in one place and when through the violence of the Persecutions they durst not assemble in great multitudes the Bishops divided their charges in lesser Parishes and gave assignments to the Presbyters of particular flocks which was done first in Rome in the beginning of the Second Century and these Churches assigned to Presbyters as they received the Gospel from the Bishop so they owned a dependence on him as their Father who was also making frequent excursions to them and visiting the whole bounds of his Precinct And things continued thus in a Parochial Government till toward the end of the Second Century the Bishop being chiefly entrusted with the cure of Souls a share whereof was also committed to the Presbyters who were subject to him and particularly were to be ordained by him nor could any Ordination be without the Bishop who in ordaining was to carry along with him the conâ—urrence of the Presbyters as in every other act of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction But I run not out into more particulars because of an account of all these things which I have drawn with an unbiass'd ingenuity and as much diligence as was possible for me to bring along with me to so laborious a work and this I shall send you when our Conference shall be at an end But in the end of the Seâ—ond Century the Churches were framed in another mould from the division of the Empire and the Bishops of the Cities did according to the several divisions of the Empire associate in Synods with the chief Bishop of that Division or Province who was called the Metropolitan from the dignity of the City where he was Bishop And hence sprang Provincial Synods and the Superiorities and Precedencies of Bishopricks which were ratified in the Council of Nice as ancient Customs they being at that time above an hundred years old In the beginning of the Third Century as the purity of Churchmen begun to abate so new methods were devised for preparing them well to those sacred Functions and therefore they were appointed to pass through several degrees before they could be Deacons Presbyters or Bishops And the Orders of Porters Readers Singers Exorcists or Catechists Acolyths who were to be the Bishops attendants and Sub-deacons were set up of whom mention is made first by Cypâ—ian and these degrees were so many steps of probationership to the supreme Order But all this was not able to keep out the corruptions weâ—e breaking in upon Church Officeâ—s eâ—peâ—â—ally after the Fouâ—th Century that the Empire became Christian which as it brougâ—t much riches and splendor on Church Empâ—oyments so it let in gâ—eat swarms of corrupt men on the Christian Assemblies And then the election to Church Offices which was formerly in the hands of the people was taken from them by reason of the tumults and disorders were in these elections which sometimes ended in blood and occasioned much faction and schism And Ambitus became now such an universal sin among Churchmen that in that Century Monasteries were founded in divers places by holy Bishops as by Basile Augustine Martin and others who imitated the Example of those in Egypt and Nitria whose design was the purifying of these who were to serve in the Gospel It is true these Seminaries did also degenerate and become nests of superstition and idleness yet it cannot be denied but this was an excellent Constitution for rightly forming the minds of the designers for holy Oâ—ders that being trained up in a course of Devotion Fasting Solitude abstraction from the World and Poverty they might be better qualified for the discharge of that holy Function And thus I have given you a general draught and perspective of the first Constitution of Churches together with some steps of their advanceâ— and declinings But I despair not to give you an ampler account and plan of their rules and forms Mean while let this suffice Phil. From what you have told us I shall propose the notion I have of Episcopacy that the work of a Bishop as it is chiefly to feed the flock so it is more particularly to form educate and try these who are to be admitted to Church Imployments and to over-see direct admonish and reprove these who are already setled in Church Offices so that as the chief tryal of those who are to be ordained is his work the Ordinations ought to be performed by him yet not so as to exclude the assistance and concurrence of Presbyters both in the previous tryal and in the Ordination it self But on the other hand no Ordination ought to be without the Bishop And as for Jurisdiction though the Bishop hath authority to over-see reprove and admonish the Clergy yet in all acts of publick Jurisdiction as he ought not to proceed without their concurrence so neither ought they without his knowledge and allowance determine about Ecclesiastical matters As for the notion of the distinct Offices of Bishop and Presbyter I confess it is not so clear to me and therefore since I look upon the â—acramental Actions as the highest of sacred Peâ—formances I cannot but acknowledge these who are empowered â—or them must be of the highest Office in the Châ—rch So I do not alledge a Bishop to be a disâ—inct Office from a Presbyter but a different degree in the same Office to whom for order and unities sake the chief inspection and care of Ecclesiastical Matters ought to be referred and who shall have authority to curb the Insolencies of some factious and turbulent Spirits His work should be to feed the flock by the Word and Sacraments as well as other Presbyters and especially to try and ordain Entrants and to over-see direct and admonish such as bear Office And I the more willingly incline to believe Bishops and Presbyters to be the several degrees of the same Office since the names of Bishop and Presbyter are used for the same thing in Scripture and are also used promiscuously by the Writers of the two first Centuries Now Isotimus when you bring either clear Scripture or
imaginable and indeed ought to be always accompanied with the advice and concurrence of the worthiest persons among the inferior Clergy But till you secure my fears of the greater part in all Societies becoming corrupt I shall not say by the major part of them but by the better part Isot. I see you run a high strain and far different from what was the discourse of this Countrey a year ago of an accommodation was inâ—ended wherein large offers seemed to be made but I now see by your ingenuous freedom that though for a while you who were called a great friend to that design were willing to yield up some parts of the Episcopal Grandeur yet you retain the â—oot of that Lordly ambition still in your heart and so though for some particular ends either to deceive or divide the LORDS people you were willing to make an appearance of yielding yet it was with a resolution of returning with the first opportunity to the old practices and designs of the Prelats of enhansing the Ecclesiastical Power to themselves and a few of their associats And this lets me see what reason all honest people have to bless GOD that these arts and devices took not for an Ethiopian cannot change his skin Phil. I confess to you freely I was a little satisfied with these condescentions as any of you and though they gave up the Rights of the Church to a peevish and preverse party whom gentleness will never gain and therefore am no less satisfied than you are that they did not take and so much the more that their refusing to accept of so large offers gave a new and clear character to the World of their temper and that it is a faction and the servile courting of a party which they design and not a strict adherence to the rules of conscience otherwise they had been more tractable Eud. Let me crave pardon to curb your humor a little which seems too near a kin to Isotimus his temper though under a different character For my part I had then the same sense of Episcopacy which I have just now owned But whâ—n I considered the ruines of Religion which our divisions occasioned among us and when I read the large offers S. Augustin made on the like occasion to the Donatists I judged all possible attempts even with the largest condescentions for an accommodation a worthy and pious design well becoming the gravity and moderation of a Bishop to offer and the nobleness of these in authority to second with their warmest endeavors for if it was blessed with success the effect was great even the setling of a broken and divided corner of the Church if it took not as it fully exonered the Church of the evils of the Schism so it rendered the enemies of Peace and Unity the more unexcusable Only I must say this upon my knowledg that whatever designs men of various sentiments fastened upon that attempt it was managed with as much ingenuity and sincerity as mortals could carry along with them in any purpose I know it is expected and desired that a full account of all the steps of that affair be made publick which a friend of ours drew up all along with the progress of it But at present my concern in one whom a late Pamphlet as full of falshoods in matters of fact as of weakness in point of reason hath mirepresented the case of Accommodation Page 31 shall prevail with me to give an account of a particular pasâ—ed in a Conference which a Bishop and two Presbyters had with about thirty of the Nonconformists at Pasley on the 14th of December in the year 1670. When the Bishop had in a long Discourse recommended Unity and Peace to them on the terms were offered he withal said much to the advantage of Episcopacy as he stated it from the rules and practices of the ancient Church offering to turn their Proâ—elyte immediately if they should give him either clear Scripture good reason or warrant from the most Primitive Antiquity against such Episcopacy And with other things he desired to know whether they would have joined in Communion with the Church at the time of the Council of Nice to carry them no higher or not for if they refused that he added he would have less heartiness to desire communion with them since of these he might say Let my soul be with theirs But to that a general answer was made by one who said He hoped they were not looked upon as either so weak or so wilful as to determine in so great a matter but upon good grounds which were the same that the asserters of Presbyterian Government had built on which they judged to be conform both to Scripture and Primitive Antiquity But for Scripture neither he nor any of the meeting offered to bring a Title only he alledged some differences betwixt the anciâ—nt Presidents as he called them and our Bishops But this was more fully enlarged by one who is believed to be among the most learned of the Party whose words with the answer given them I shall read to you as I take both from a Journal was drawn of that affair by one whose exactness and fidelity in it can be attested by some worthy spectators who read what he wrote after the Meeting was ended and Judged it not only faithful but often verbal And that he was so careful to evite the appearances of partiality that he seemed rather studious to be more copious in proposing what was said by these who differed from his opinion whereas he contracted much of what was said by these he favored The account follows Mr. said That he offered to make appear the difference was betwixt the present Episcopacy and what was in the ancient Church in â—ive particulars The first was that they had nâ— Archbishops in the Primitive Church It is true they had Metropolitans but in a Council oâ— Caâ—thage it was decreed that no Bishop should be â—allâ—d â—ummus Sacerdos or Princeps Sacerdoâ—um sed primae sedis Episcopus 2. The Bishops in the ancient Church were Parochial and not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in every Village 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for even in Bethany we find there was a Bishop 3. Two Bishops might be in one Church such was not to mention Alexander and Narcissus at Jerusalem Augustin who with Valerius was ordained Bishop of Hippo. 4. Bishops were elected by their Presbyters so Jerome tells us that in Alexandria the Presbyters choosed one of their number to be Bishop and finally the Bishops were countable to and censurable by their Presbyters for either this must have been otherwise they could not have been censured at all For though we meet with some Provincial Synods in Church History as that of Carthage in Cyprians time for the rebaptizing of hereticks and that at Antioch against Samoâ—atenus yet these instances were rare and recurred seldom therefore there must have been a power in Presbyters to have censured their
Bishops otherwise it could not have been done which is absurd to imagine And upon all these accounts he judged the present Episcopacy differed much from the ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon this discourse the Bishop being weary of speaking much looked to one of his Presbyters whom that Pamphlet in derision calls a worthy Doctor who said He found the ancient writings were so clear for a disparity among Church-men and so full of it that he was assured none could doubt it after he had looked but overly upon them But as to what was alledged he first assumed the five particulars and spoke to them in order To the first he said It was true the term Archbishop was not used in the first Centuries but in the Council of Nice mention is not only made of Metropolitans but the Canon saith of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the ancient customs have their force which shews the superiority of Metropolitans to have been pretty early begun And the Canon that was cited calling him Primae Sedis Episcopum makes him Primate now we are not to contend about words when the thing is clear neither will â—any Archbishop judg himself injured if instead of that name he be called Metropolitan or Primate Besides Archiepiscopus doth not import Prince of the Bishops but that he is the chief and first of them And this prefixing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not so odious for Nazianzen calls a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Areopagite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the second particular it is true Bishops were in many places very thick set for in S. Augustin ' s time it appears from the journals of a Conference he had with the Donatiâ—ts that there were about 500. Bishopricks in a small tract of ground but this was not universal for Theodoret tells he had 800. Parishes in his Diocese and Sozomen tells of great Countries where there were very few Bishops And to prove this the Canons of Ancyra make a difference betwixt the Presbyters of the Country from those of the City and over the former there was a Chorepiscopus which shâ—ws that the whole Diocese was not within the City But this was not much to our purpose since the more or the less did not vary the kind And if a Bishop might be over the Ministers of the City it cannot be unlawful that he be likewise set over more in the Country which can be no more essential to this matter than it is whether a Parish be great or small So that this difference may well make the one unexpedient but unlawful it cannot be if the other be lawful For the third particular there was a Canon of the Council of Nice that there might be but one Bishop in a City And he was amazed to hear the instance of S. Augustin alledged who was indeed ordained Coadjutor to Valerius but himself in his I 10. Epist. condemns that telling that he did it ignorantly not knowing it to be contrary to the Nicene Rules And therefore he tells how he designed Eradius to be his Successor but would not ordain him in his own time because of that Canon Other instances of more Bishops in one City might have beâ—â— more pertinently adduced to this purpose but they were either Coadjutors such as Nazianzen the son was to his father or it was agreed to for setling a Schism as was done in the Schism betwixt Meletius and Paulinus of Antioch And so S. Augustin and the African Bishops with him offered to the Donatists that would they agree with them these schismatical Bishops should be continued as conjunct Bishops with those already setled in those Sees where thâ—y lived It is true some will have both Linus and Clemens to have succeeded S. Peter at Rome and Evodius and Ignatius â—o have succeeded him at Antioch But for this none assert that both succeeded to S. Peter some being for one and some for another and so in a historical matter the testimonies of these who lived nearest that time should decide the question But the Constitutions of Clemens offer a solution to this that at first there were in some Cities two Churches one for those of the Circumcision and another for those of the Uncircumcision and after the destruction of Jerusalem this distinction was swallowed up This is rational and not without ground in Scripture besides that that Book though none of Clements yet is ancient And from all this it was clear that there might be but one Bishop in a City As for the fourth particular it is true the ancient elections of Bishops and Presbyters were partly by Synods partly by Presbyters and partly popular But as none would say it made any essential alteration of the Constitution of a Church if instead of these elections Patrons had now a right of presenting to Churches so though instead of these elections the King were Patron of all the Bishopricks it did not alter the nature of Episcopacy much less justifie a Schism against it But beside this it was known the Capitular elections were still continued And for the fifth particular he desired they might give one instance in all Antiquity where a Bishop was censured by Presbyters it being clear that they could finish nothing without the Bishops sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the words of the Canon And if they could finish nothing without the Bishop much less could they censure himself Provincial Synods were begun in the second Century which appears from many Synods were held about the day of observing Easter Another expedient they had when a Bishop was heretical that the neighboring Bishops used to publish it in their Cicular Letters which went around and so they did excommunicate or dâ—pose them But the regular way of procedure against Bishops was in Provincial Synods which were now offered to be seâ— up Yet even this exception could be no ground for separating no more than in their principles Lay Elders had to separate from their Ministers who were their fixed President and yet did not judge themselves censurable by these Lay Elders tho as to the power of ruling they held them to be equal With this he ended saying He had now proposed what occurred of a sudden to his tho ughts on these heads though he believed much more might be adduced but he supposed there was enough said to clear these particulars And it seems the Person who had engaged him to this judged so since neither he nor any of his brethren offered a reply And by this account of the truth whereof I am willing all there present bear witness let the company judge of the ingenuity of these Writers But I shall pursue the discourse of the accommodation no further Basil. I am sure it hath left this conviction on all our Consciences that that Party is obstinately fixed to their own humors without the least color of reason But now I think enough is said for justifying both