New Testament where to be a Presbyter is never reckoned either as a distinct Office or a distinct order but indifferently communicated to all the Superior Clergy and all the Princes of the people II. The second thing I intended to say is this that although all the superior Clergy had not onely one but divers common appellatives all being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Apostolate it self being called a Deaconship yet it is evident that before the common appellations were fixt into names of propriety they were as evidently distinguished in their offices and powers as they are at this day in their Names and Titles To this purpose St. Paul gave to Titus the Bp. of Crete a special commission command and power to make Ordinations and in him and in the person of Timothy he did erect a Court of Judicature even over some of the Clergy who yet were called Presbyters against a Presbyter receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses there is the measure and the warranty of the Audientia Episcopalis the Bps Audience Court and when the accused were found guilty he gives in charge to proceed to censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You must rebuke them sharply and you must silence them stop their mouths that 's St. Pauls word that they may no more scatter their venom in the ears and hearts of the people These Bishops were commanded to set in order things that were wanting in the Churches the same with that power of St. Paul other things will I set in order when I come said he to the Corinthian Churches in which there were many who were called Presbyters who nevertheless for all that name had not that power To the same purpose it is plain in Scripture that some would have been Apostles that were not such were those whom the spirit of God notes in the Revelation and some did love preeminence that had it not for so did Diotrephes and some were Judges of questions and all were not for therefore they appealed to the Apostles at Jerusalem and St. Philip though he was an Evangelist yet he could not give confirmation to the Samaritans whom he had baptiz'd but the Apostles were sent for for that was part of the power reserv'd to the Episcopal or Apostolical order Now from these premises the conclusion is plain and easy 1. Christ left a Government in his Church and founded it in the persons of the Apostles 2. The Apostles received this power for the perpetual use and benefit for the comfort and edification of the Church for ever 3. The Apostles had this Government but all that were taken into the Ministery and all that were called Presbyters had it not If therefore this Government in which there is so much disparity in the very nature and exercise and first original of it must abide for ever then so must that disparity If the Apostolate in the first stabiliment was this eminency of power then it must be so that is it must be the same in the succession that it was in the foundation For after the Church is founded upon its Governours we are to expect no change of government If Christ was the Author of it then as Christ left it so it must abide for ever for ever there must be the Governing and the Governed the Superior and the Subordinate the Ordainer and the Ordained the confirmer and the confirmed Thus far the way is straight and the path is plain The Apostles were the Stewards and the ordinary Rulers of Christs Family by virtue of the order and office Apostolical and although this must be succeeded to for ever yet no man for his now or at any time being called a Presbyter or Elder can pretend to it for besides his being a Presbyter he must be an Apostle too else though he be called in partem sollicitudinis and may do the offices of assistance and understewardship yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Government and Rule of the Family belongs not to him But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are these Stewards and Rulers over the houshold now To this the answer is also certain and easy Christ hath made the same Governours to day as heretofore Apostles still For though the twelve Apostles are dead Yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that office Apostolical and supreme regiment of Souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons the XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII and then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand and more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that Spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII and yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact St. Iames the Bp. of Ierusalem is by St. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and St. Paul and Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so saith Primasius and what is this else but the Bp. saith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bps were then called Apostles saith the same Father the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Mark as of him that is Servant of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Iohn such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary traveller or if you please take it in the words of our Blessed Lord himself that He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire rule possibly you may have it but all that Rule under him are Servants to them that are rul'd and therefore you get nothing by it but a great labour and a buisy imployment a careful life and a necessity of making severe accounts But all this is nothing but the general measures I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom for because we must be followers of them as they were of Christ the recounting what they did worthily in their generations will not onely demonstrate how useful how profitable how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church but it will at the same time teach us our duty by what services we are to benefit the Church in what works we are to be imployed and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bps not onely because the Apostles who were Bishops were the first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches but because the Apostolical men whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion were by all Antiquity affirm'd to have been Diocesan Bishops insomuch that as St. Epiphanius witnesses there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ many Churches who had in them no other Clergy but a Bishop and his Deacons and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater But the Bishops names are known they are recorded in the book of Life and their praise is in the Gospel such were Timothy and Titus Clemens and Linus Marcus and Dyonisius Onesimus and Cains Epaphroditas and St. Iames our Lords Brother Evodius and Simeon all which if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith and any truth in their Stories and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch Livy and Tacitus think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance and that all the brave men the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches and had Dioceses for their Charges The consequent of this consideration is this If Bishops were those upon whose Ministery Christ founded and built his Church let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars The Stewards of Christs Family must be wise that Christ requires and if the order be necessary to the Church wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order For it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ shall by their unskilfulness skilfulness be but Babes themselves understanding not the secrets of Religion the mysteries of Godliness the perfections of the Evangelical Law all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual life A Bishop must be exercis'd in Godliness a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls not satisfyed with an ordinary skill in makeing homilies to the people and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases but ready to answer in all secret inquiries and able to convince the gainsayers and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect If the first Bishops laid the foundation their Successours must not onely preserve whatsoever is fundamental but build up the Church in a most holy Faith taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation and that no hay or rotten vvood be built upon it and above all things that a most Holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith So the Apostles laid the foundation and built the vvalls of the Church and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven For let us talk and dispute eternally vve shall never compose the controversies in Religion and establish truth upon unalterable foundations as long as Men handle the vvord of God deceiptfully that is vvit designes and little artifices and saecular partialities and they will for ever do so as long as they are proud or covetous It is not the difficulty of our questions or the subtilty of our adversaries that makes disputes interminable but We shall never cure the itch of disputing or establish Unity unless we apply our selves to humility and contempt of riches If we will be contending let us contend like the Olive and the Vine who shall produce best and most fruit not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noyse in a wind All other methods are a beginning at a wrong end And as for the people the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of faith and government is by reducing them to live good lives When the Children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness and filthy lusts they quickly fell into abominable idolatries and St. Paul says that men make shipwrack of their faith by putting away a good conscience for the mystery of faith is best preserv'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pure conscience saith the same Apostle secure but that and we shall quickly end our disputes and have an obedient and conformable people but else never 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches and gave them being so they preserve them in being For without Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starv'd and die and without Bishops there can be no Priests and consequently no Sacraments and that must needs be a supream order from whence ordination it self proceeds For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no record of ordination but an Apostolical hand was in it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the chief one of the superiour and Ruling Clergy and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church the Bishop always had that power it was never denyed to him and it was never imputed to Presbyters and St. Hierom himself when out of his anger against Iohn Bp. of Ierusalem endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop though in very many places he spake otherwise yet even then also and in that heat he excepted ordination acknowledging that to be the Bps peculiar And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy do as Iullan did they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock and take away their Shepheards and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the
delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith Errata P 1 l 18 lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P 3 l ◠lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P 6 l 10. lege but by its being indiff P 34 transpose these words in the 4 and 5 lines The Gentry being little better then Servants while they live under the Presbyterie to 〈…〉 〈…〉 the Gentry c. P 36 l 17 lege Roman P 37 l 4 for discern lege deserve Luke 12. 42. And the Lord said who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he commeth shall find so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THese words are not properly a question though they seem so and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interogative but hypothetical and extends who to whosoever plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshold of him God requires a great care because he hath trusted him with a great imployment Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in my text Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it now and in all generations of men as long as this Family shall abide on earth that is the Apostles and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship were to be furnished with the same power and to undertake the same charge and to give the same strict and severe accounts In these words here is something insinuated and much expressed 1. That which is insinuated onely is who these Stewards are whom Christ had whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church they are not here nam'd but we shall find them out by their proper direction and indigitation by and by 2. But that which is expressed is the Office it self in a double capacity 1. In the dignity of it It is a Rule and a Government whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold 2. In the care and duty of it which determines the government to be paternal and profitable it is a Rule but such a rule as Shepheards have over their flocks to lead them to good pastures and to keep them within their appointed walks and within their folds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the work to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Matthew calls it meat in the season that which is fit for them and when it is fit meat enough and meat convenient and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong wholsom dyet 3. Lastly Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation The Steward that does so and continues to do so till his Lord find him so doing this man shall be blessed in his deed Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he commeth shall find so doing Of these in order 1. Who are these Rulers of Christs Family for though Christ knew it and therefore needed not to ask yet we have disputed it so much and obeyed so little that we have chang'd the plain hypothesis into an intangled question The Answer yet is easie as to some part of the inquiry The Apostles are the first meaning of the text for they were our Fathers in Christ They begat Sons and Daughters unto God and where a spiritual paternity is evident we need look no further for spiritual Government because in the paternal rule all power is founded They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the spirit and they fed this family and rul'd it by the word of their proper Ministery They had the keyes of this house the Stewards 〈◊〉 and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church then for the first planting and if it was necessary that the Apostles should have a rod and a staff at first it would be more necessary afterwards when the Family was more numerous and their first zeal abated and their native simplicity perverted into arts of hypocrisy and formes of godliness when Heresies should arise and the love of many should wax cold The Apostles had also a power of Ordination and that the very power it self does denote for it makes perpetuity that could not expire in the dayes of the Apostles for by it they themselves propagated a succession And Christ having promis'd his spirit to abide with his Church for ever and made his Apostles the channels the Ministers and conveyances of it that it might descend as the inheritance and eternal portion of the Family it cannot be imagined that when the first Ministers were gone thereshould not others rise up in the same places some like to the first in the same Office and Ministery of the spirit But the thing is plain and evident in the matter of fact also Quod in Ecclesiâ nunc geritur hoc olim fecerunt Apostoli said St. Cyprian What the Apostles did at first that the Church does to this day and shall do so for ever For when St. Paul had given to the Bp. of Ephesus rules of Government in this Family he commands that they should be observed till the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ and therefore these authorities and charges are given to him and to his Successors it is the observation of St. Ambrose upon the warranty of that text and is obvious and undeniable Well then The Apostles were the first Stewards and this Office dies not with them but must for ever be succeeded in and now begins the enquiry who are the Successors of the Apostles for they are they must evidently be the Stewards to feed and to rule this Family There are some that say that all who have any portion of work in the Family all the Ministers of the Gospel are these Stewards and so all will be Rulers The Presbyters surely for say they Presbyter and Bishop is the same thing and have the same name in Scripture and therefore the Office cannot be distinguished To this I shall very briefly say two things which will quickly clear our way through this bush of thornes I. That the word Presbyter is but an honourable appellative used amongst the Jews as Alderman amongst us but it signifies no order at all nor was ever used in Scripture to signify any distinct company or order of Clergy And this appears not onely by an Induction in all the enumerations of the Offices Ministerial in the
World delivered by notorious and uninterrupted practise and deriv'd to further and unquestionable issue by perpetual succession I have done with the hardest part of the Text by finding out the persons intrusted the Stewards of Christs Family which though Christ onely intimated in this place yet he plainly enough manifested in others The Apostles and their Successors the Bishops are the men intrusted with this great charge God grant they may all discharge it well And so I pass from the Officers to a consideration of the Office it self in the next words VVhom the Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshold to give them their meat in due season 2. The Office it self is the Stewardship that is Episcopacy the Office of the Bishop The name signifies an Office of the Ruler indefinitely but the word was chosen and by the Church appropriated to those whom it now signifies both because the word it self is a monition of duty and also because the faithful were used to it in the days of Moses and the Prophets The word is in the prophecy of the Church I will give to thee Princes in peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bishops in righteousness upon which place St. Hierom says Principes Ecclesiae vocat futuros Episcopos The spirit of God calls them who were to be Christian Bps principes or chief Rulers and this was no new thing For the chief of the Priests who were set over the rest are called Bishops by all the Hellenist Jews Thus â—oel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop over the Prâ—ests and the son of Bani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop and Visitor over the Levites and we find at the purging of the Land from idolatry the High-Priest plac'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops over the House of God Nay it was the appellative of the High-Priest himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest to whom is committed the care of the Lamps and the daily Sacrifice and the holy unction Now this word the Church retain'd choosing the same Name to her superiour Ministers because of the likeness of the Ecclesiastical Government between the Old and New-Testament For Christ made no change but what was necessary Baptism was a rite among the Jews and the Lords-Supper was but the post-coenium of the Hebrews chang'd into a mystery from a type to a more real exhibition and the Lords Prayer was a collection of the most eminent devotions of the Prophets and Holy men before Christ who prayed by the same spirit and the censures Ecclesiastical were but an imitation of the proceedings of the Judaical tribunals and the whole Religion was but the Law of Moses drawn out of it's vail into clarity and manifestation and to conclude in order to the present affair the Government which Christ left was the same as he found it for what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple that Bishops Priests and Deacons are in the Church it is affirmed by St. Hierom more then once and the use he makes of it is this Esto subjectus pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe Obey your Bishop and receive him as the nursing Father of your Soul But above all this appellation is made honourable by being taken by our Blessed Lord himself For he is called in Scripture the great Shepheard and Bishop of our Souls But our inquitie is not after the Name but the Office and the dignity and duty of it Ecclesiae gubernandae sublimis ac divina potestas so St. Cyprian calls it a High and a Divine power from God of Governing the Church rem magnam preciosam in conspectu Domini so St. Cyril a great and a pretious thing in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Isidor Pelusiot the utmost limit of what is desireable amongst men But the account upon which it is so desireable is the same also that makes it formidable They who have tryed it and did it conscientiously have found the burden so great as to make them stoop with care and labour And they who do it ignorantly or carelesly will find it will break their bones For the Bishops Office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of St. Cyprian He is a Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood the Ruler of the people the Shepheard of the Flock the Governour of the Church the Minister of Christ and the Priest of God These are great titles and yet less then what is said of them in Scripture which calls them Salt of the Earth Lights upon a candlestick Stars and Angels Fathers of our Faith Embassadors of God Dispensors of the Mysteries of God the Apostles of the Churches and the Glory of Christ but then they are great burdens too for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intrusted with the Lords people that 's a great charge but there is a worse matter that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls they are the words of St. Paul and transcribed into the 40th Canon of the Apostles and the 24th Canon of the Councel of Antioch And novv I hope the envy is taken off for the honour does not pay for the burden and vve can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity as it is a Rule but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty that as the load of it is almost unsufferable so the event of it is very formidable if vve take not great care For this Stevvardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principality and a Ministery So it vvas in Christ he is Lord of all and yet he vvas the Servant of all so it vvas in the Apostles it vvas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lot vvas to be Apostles and yet to serve and minister and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the LXX use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosheth which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interlineary translation by Exactores Bishops are onely Gods Ministers and tribute gatherers requiring and over seeing them that they do their duty and therefore here the case is so and the burden so great and the dignity so allayed that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load nor the proud man vainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger It is indeed a Rule but it is paternal it is a Government but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is neither a power to constrain nor a commission to get wealth for it must be without necessity and not for filthy lucre sake but it is a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Luke as of him that ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉