and decency but all was easily effected by the conventions of the chief heads and Fathers of the Churches the Bishops and Presbyters in any Province Patriarchate yea and in all the world which had commerce with the Roman Empire where the chief overseers of the Flock and representers of the Clergy met and so were best able to give an account of the state of the Church past and present or to advise for the future welfare of it So that many wise men think it may be sayd of Episcopall government in its right constâ—â—ution and use Platins in vita Pii 2. as Piâ—â— the second said of the marriages of Clergy-men He saw some reason why Marriage should be denied to them as to the honour of their Order and the redemption of them from secular cares c. But he saw much more reason to allow them that liberty which not only Nature Reason and Religion gives them as well as any men but even the honor of the Church required to avoyd the mischiefs and enormities which followed the contrary And beyond all dispute it appears after long dispute that if it be not necessary by Divine prescript and direction to have such Bishops among the Clergy yet there is no necessity made to appear against them either in Reason or Scripture Nor doth either Presbytery or Independency shew any so good title to divine right as Episcopacy doth which includes the good of both those and superads some thing of Order Unity and Excellency beyond them both for the good of Presbyters and people too Yea I have known some Ministers of good repute for Learning and Piety who were sometime great sticklers for the parity of Presbyterie yet they have since the mischiefs ensuing the change have confuted and quenched those former vain hopes and excessive heats confessed to me That they see nothing in an Episcopall priority or Presidency unlawfull as against Scripture or Religion only it was thought by many godly men inconvenient It may be so but those men did not foresee the after inconveniences which grow greater by many degrees So that I perceived that this long hot and bloody dispute which seemed to hold forth the question and title of Divine right for Presbytery without a Bishop was now referrable to the judgement of Prudence rather than of Conscience a matter of policie rather than piety Answer to what is urged in the Covenant against Episcopacy Tyrannicum Episcoporum regimen This calmness at last abates much of that rigor which some men superstitiously urge and impose from the Covenant against Episcopacy in any kind or form as if when Scripture and Reason and Antiquity and Catholique custome are all for a right Episcopacy it were of any force to be battered and Abolished by the Covenant the sense of which was sometime declared to be only against the Tyrannicall abusive and corrupt government of Bishops or those inconveniences which were conceived to be in the present Constitution exercise or use here in England which one that had great influence in composing the Covenant assured others was the meaning of the Composers and the Covenants intent was only to remove what was decayed in that antient Fabrick and so preserve what was sound and good in it The only lawfull and honest sense of this Covenant is sufficiently kept if the former Constitution of Episcopacy in England be so reformed as it easily may be and in reason ought to be in what ever it needed alteration or amendment However that Covenant being no infallible Oracle dictated from heaven but a politique Engine continued and carried on by a company of poor sinfull and fallible men upon whose heads we have lived to see that arrow fall which they thought to shoot only against the face of Episcopacy all its words and senses are certainly to be brought to the rules of every mans place and calling of a good conscience of right reason and of Scriptures Not may these with all Antiquity and the Fathers be forced to bow their sheafes and to do homage to that one Sheaf of humane Combination and novell Erection which holds forth as nothing for a headless Presbytery or Independency So nothing of Reason Scripture or Conscience against a right and primitive Episcopacy Against which to make a Covenant of extirpation must needs be so much a sin as it is against all reason and religion to abjure the use of any thing which is lawfull good and usefull And if it be not necessary as of Apostolike and divine Institution if there be not Precept divine commanding yet there is clear practise directing the Church that way of Episcopall government as best which some men wel knowing to have bin antiently approved and constantly followed by the Catholike Church they used in the Covenant that art against Episcopacy to soder Popery and Prelacy together thereby to bring the greater odium on Episcopacy â— Prelacy to Popery implying that they were both intollerable and inseparable whereas in truth there is nothing more ridiculously false and absurd than to think the Pope to be the Father or Fountain of Episcopacy or to affirm Prelacy to be Popery as now the word is commonly understood to signifie Error joyned with pride and superstition with tyranny There were many godly Bishops and holy Prelates in the primitive Churches which were equal or preceding in time as at Antioch Jerusalem Alexandria c. Episcopatus unus est cujus ingulis in sâ—â—idum pars temtur Cyp. de un Ecc. to any Bishop or Pope of Rome Many afterwards were equall to him in authority as to their severall Provinces Independent also as to any derivation of power from the Bishop of Rome As there are now many in the Christian world and were in the English Church both long before and ever since the Reformation Nor is the Pope by any wise men called Antichristian in any sense as he is a Bishop or Prelate of one Diocesse or Province Nor was he ever thought to be so by any judicious Protestant for then all Bishops in all the world as Bishops had ever been Antichrists and then the whole Church of Christ from the Apostles times must have had no other government ordination or Ministry but Antichristian which is a most impudent and intollerable blaspheming of God and the Lord Jesus and his blessed Spirit and of the whole Church As if Joh. 14.16 in stead of the Spirit of Truth it had received only the spirit of Error and lying in stead of Christs being alwayes with it by the Ministeriall gifts of his Spirit and the Apostles and their Successors Mat. 28.20 Ps 2.6 only Satan had presided in it by falsity and usurpation and as if in stead of all the ends of the earth given to Christ for his possession in the way of an Evangelicall kingdome and Ministry where truth and righteousness charity and order are his Throne and Scepter all had been exposed to Antichrists invasion that he
Churchship to separate from all to cry down every thing to rail at and despise with as little charity as much passion and no reason all Churches and Christians as Antichristian and not yet sufficiently reformed which are not of their new Bodying and Independent fashion Which novel practises seem nothing else but the effects either of secular polity or prejudicating and preposterous zeal by which some men for their interest or their humor seek to bring back the Churches of Christ to that Egypt and Babylon of strife schism emulation sedition faction and confusion to which they were running very early St. Paul 1 Cor. c. 3. Clem. ad Cor. epist. Thirty years after Postquam unusquisque eos quos baptisaverat suos esse putabat non Christi in toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ad quem omnis ecclesiae cura pertineret schismatum semina tollerentur Jeron in Tit. as the Apostle Paul tells us and St. Clemens in his Epistle to the Corinthians From the rocks of which inconveniencies Saint Jerom by express words and all Churches by their antient Catholike practises do assure us That the wisdom of the Apostles and Apostolike-men in the Primitive times even from St. Mark in Alexandria and St. James in Jerusalem redeemed and brought the Church by setling those large and publick combinations by Episcopal Government and in ways of ampliated communion and Catholike correspondencies as much as might be by Synods and General Councils which might best keep particular Congregations from scattering and crumbling themselves into such Factions and Schisms which all wisdom foresaw and experience fulfilled would be the onely means First to break the bond of Christian charity and the Churches communion which consisted much as in the verity of the Faith so in those larger fraternities holy confederacies and orderly subjections and afterward to overthrow the very foundations of Faith and Truth As those every where did who at any time corrupted any part of the Church affecting singularities and chosing rather to fall by standing alone in a separation of Opinion or Government than to seem to have any support by the association with others in a more publick way of common relation unity and subjection Which undoubtedly carry the greatest strength and safety with them both in Ecclesiastical and Civil polities twisting many smaller strings into one cord and many cords into one cable which will best preserve the Ship of the Church as well as the State from those storms and distresses which are prone to fall upon it in lesser bottoms The good effects of which larger communion among men and Christians all reason and experience demonstrate to us in civil societies which are the conservatories of mankinde by way of mutual assistance in publick combinations while single persons which alone are feeble and exposed to injuries grow strong by making one family and many families grow into a Village Town or City Many Villages Towns and Cities arise to one potent Principality or Commonwealth which as a threefold cord is not easily broken It is in all Church Histories most evident That as soon as the Gospel spred from Cities where it was generally first planted there being the greatest conflux of people and from thence derived to the Territories and Countreys adjacent which were called the several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parishes or Diocesses So those Christians which grew up in the Countreys and Territories about to small Congregations continued still in a fraternal subjection and a filial submission both Presbyters and People to that Bishop and Presbytery which were in the Mother City who there residing where the Apostles or Apostolike-men had placed them took care so to spred the Gospel to the Countreys about as to preserve Religion once planted in peace unity and order Nor did those particular Congregations in Cities or Viâ—lages turn presently Acepalists or Independents nor set up any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heady or headless bodies in every corner and meeting-place For however Christians in some places might at first amount to but so small a number as would make but one convenient Society or Congregation under one Bishop or Presbyter with the Deacons and so might for a time continue in private bounds not corresponding with or depending on any other company of Christians as to lesser concernments which might easily be managed among them Yet where the number of believers increased as in Antioch Jerusalem Ephesus Corinth Rome c. both in the Cities and their Territories all Histories of the Church a ver That as by those dictates of religious Reason which first guided the Apostles or Apostolike-men to cast themselves and believers into such lesser bodies and distinct societies as might best serve for the convenience of meeting together in one place according as neighborhood invited them So still as growing parts of the same body and increasing branches of the same Tree they preserved the first great and common relation of descent and extraction from the Mother City So as to correspond with to watch over each other yea and to be subject in every particular Congregation as well as families to those who were the original of their instruction and conversion and who by a kinde of paternal right together with Apostolical appointment and common consent of Christians had the chief power and authority for Inspection and Government over them within such precincts and bounds yea all Christians were thus subjected and united in greater and diffused Churches not by any civil necessity such as compels men by the sword and force but by that necessity of gratitude sense of priority prudence and charity which bound by love humility and wisdom particular Christians first to one Society or Convention And these particular Congregations to greater fraternities and these to a more ample and Catholike communion for the mutual peace and good order of the whole Church of Christ which sought to preserve it self even in the eye of the world as one entire body under one head Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 12.25 c. Eph. 4.4 c. So that the imaginary pdtern in the Mount the primitive practise which some men love to talk of by which they would force all large and ampliated Churches which have now received as they did at first distinctions and denominations by the Cities Civil Jurisdictions Kingdoms or Nations wherein they are to those lesser Forms wherein they fancy and not unlikely a single Congregation of Christians in any place at first enjoyed themselves under some Apostle or one of Apostolike appointment who was their Bishop or Overseer over them This I say seems to be so childish a fancy so weak and unreasonable an imagination That it is all one as if they would needs reduce themselves to their infant coats now they are grown men And what I pray doth hinder save onely the novel opinions and humors of these men that Christian Religion
be faithfull to their Masters profit and credit to do their duty and to maintain that place and authority in which the Lord hath set them nor is it any thing of a pious easiness but an impious baseness in them as Bishops and Ministers voluntarily to desert their station and to suffer every one to usurp upon them and to do what they list Nor is any thing more intolerable than the rudeness riot and impudence of those inferior servants who pretending Christian liberty and not induring those officers and Ministers whom the Master hath orderly placed over them neither will they long indure the Lord or Master himself to rule over them we read Mat. 21.38 They kill the Son who first beat and shamefully intreated the servants which were sent But thirdly as to the persons duly ordeined This holy Ordination gâ—ves a reall divine power which is necessarily to be delegated and derived from Christ since no man hath it in and of himself or of any will of men by which he is enabled to perform those duties which Christ only hath injoyned in his word to be done and to be thus done by such men and in such a manner and no other 1 Tim. 5.22 Lay hands suddainly on no man i. e. by way of Ordination Ergo no man is of that office or hath that authority and power till ordeined be his parts and gifts never so great and good So 2 Tim. 2.2 These things commit to faithfull men who may be able to teach others ergo some peculiar Commission must be given to these and to no other to perform Ministeriall duties with authority Such are those of making Disciples by Preaching the Gospell by distinguishing from others and also confirming and uniting together among themselves in holy Communion those Disciples with the holy seals of Baptism and the Lords Supper To edify confirm and preserve them by teaching reprooving praying for them comforting guiding governing binding and loosing by the use of that power of the Keys which is committed only to them both in doctrine and discipline doing all things toward penitents and impenitents believers and unbelievers Tit. 2.15 not magisterially but ministerially as from Christ and for the Churches good yet not precariously and arbitrarily oâ— depending on mans pleasure Iren. l. 4. c. 43. Episcopalus sucâ—essionâ—m ab Apostolis habentes Charisma veritatis certuÌ„ acceperunt Ubi charisâ—ata domini posita sunt ibi discere oportet veritatem apud quos est successio ab Apostoliâ— sanum ac irreprobabile sermonis Cap. 45. 1 Tâ—m 4.14 but autoritatively and conscientiously as doing the work of the Lord knowing the power they have received of the Lord the duties enjoyned them the care required in them the account to be exacted of them as to the Stewardship of the souls solemnly committed to their care which is done by that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ministeriall gift of the holy Ghost which Christ gave to the Apostles John 20.22 and by their hands as by St. Pauls to Timothy 2 Tim. 1.6.14 to others and so to a perpetuall succession For without this gift or power of the holy Spirit of Truth 18. The holy Spirit given in right Ordination how whose property it is to lead the faithfull into all truth no man is truly a Minister of holy things in the Church So that it is a pittifull piece of ignorance or putid scurrility and profaness for any that profess Christianity much more for those that pretend to be Ministers in the Church to slight and expose to vulgar scorn that passage used as of antient times in all Churches so in the Church of Englands manner of ordeining Ministers Receive ye the holy Spirit As if this were a meer mockery and insignificancy in point of any sanctity conferred When it is expressed to be meant as it ever was in the Church understood not of sanctifying graces infused qualities or habits of inward holiness which are immediatly from God and not by man to be conferred nor from man to be communicated to another nor do they invest any one that hath them in any Church office or publick power over others for then every holy man and woman should have this power but it is only meant of those peculiar gifts or powers of the holy Spirit Eph. 4.8 which are properly ministeriall and officiative as from Christ and in his name not by internall infusion but by externall separation or sanction not endâ—ing with grace but investing in a new relation and authority distinct from the common Christians duty place and officers of charity c. which are as parchment wax and writing usefull in their kind but not valid as to any conveyance till sealed subscribed delivered and witnessed as the act and deeâ— of the conveyer who lawfully hereby confers to an other his right and power of acting possessing or enjoying c. So by a form of such Commission or delegation as Christ instituted that power and ministeriall gift of the holy Spirit is continued which was first committed to the Apostles by Christ who only would do it Nor can this power be understood so much for extraordinary miracles which were to cease as for that ordinary Ministry which was to continue as necessary for the Church in all ages This power or gift of the Holy Ghost as ministeriall and officiating in Christs name as that of miracles may be where there is no sanctifying grace as was in Judas and probably in Demas and others who might be sheep as to their profession Acts 1.17 and shepheards as to their office or Episcopacy of which Judas had a part and fell from it and yet wolves as to the inward habits and graces 1 Cor. 5.4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ c. When the Spirit of Paul was joyned with the Corinthian Ministers and believers in excommunicating the incestuous persons it was not the sanctifying Spirit or grace of the Apostle but that ministeriall power which he had eminently in and joyntly with the Church The power and Spirit of Christ as it is given so received in right Ordination by every true Minister that is worthily promoted not as to grace and inward vertue of which man judgeth not but as to office and relative power from Christ in the publike service or Ministry to his Church As every officer civill or military that hath commission acts in the Spirit name and power of those by whom authority is primarily derived to them In this sense and to this use the Spirit of Moses was put on the 70. Elders Num. 11.25 and Elias on Elisha 2 Kings 11.9 3. Yea further I doubt not but the solemn and right manner of Ordination by fasting Deus largitur gratiam homo imponit manus Sacerdos imponit supplicem dextram Deus benediâ— potents dentre Episcopus initiat ordinem Deus tribuit
semper valuit ut quae cunque ab hoc consensu confirmata videam mihi sacrosancta immutabilia videantur Bishop Carleton de Consen eccles cap. 11. cap. 277. and humble Christians do and ever did the constant clear and concurrent which is the truly Catholick testimony of the Church in which so much of the truth Spirit and grace of God hath alwaies appeared amidst the many cloudings of humane infirmities to be far beyond any meer humane record or authority in point of establishing a Christians judgement or conscience in any thing that is not contrary to the evident command of the written word of God However some mens ignorance and self conceited confidence like bogs and quagmires are so loose and false that no piles never so long well driven and strongly compacted by the consent and harmonious testimonies of the most learned writers in the Church can reach any bottom or firm ground in them whereon to lay a foundation of humane belief or erect a firm bank and defense against the invasion of daily novelties which blow up all and break in upon the antient and most venerable orders practises and constitutions of the Church where ever they are yet continued which being evidently set forth to me by witnesses of so great credit for their piety diligence fidelity harmony integrity constancy and charity I know not how with any face of humanity or Christianity to question disbelieve or contradict Under which cloud of unsuspected witnesses I confess I cannot but much acquiesce and rest satisfied in those things which others endlessly dispute because they have not so literal and preceptive a ground in Scripture Quod universa tenet ecclesia nec consiliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi autoritate Apostolica traditum rectissimè creditur August cont Donat. l. 4. In Concil Loodic Melito Episc Sard. missus ut autographa ubique decernat c. Constabit id ab Apostolis traditum quod apud ecclesias fuerit sacrosanctum Tert. ad Mar. l. 4. however they have a very rational exexemplary analogical and consequential authority from thence which is made most clear as to the minde of God by that sense which the Primitive Doctors and Christians who lived with or next to the Apostles had of them and by their practise accordingly in the ways of Religion Thus the Canonical Books of the Scripture especially those of the New Testament which no where are enumerated in any one Book nor as from divine oracle any where commanded to be believed or received as the writings of such holy authors guided by the dictates or directions of Gods Spirit we own and receive as they were after some time with judgment and discretion rejecting many other pretended Gospels and Epistles antiently received by the Catholike Church and to this day are continued So also in point of the Church Government How in right Reason Order and Religion the Churches of Christ either in single Congregations and Parishes or in larger Associations and Fraternities ought to be governed in which thing we see that sudden variations from the Churches constant patern in all ages and places hath lately cost the expence not onely of much Ink but of much blood and have both cast and left us in great scandals deformities and confusions unbeseeming Christian Religion The like confirmation I have for Christians observing the Lords day as their holy Rest or Sabbath to the Lord and their variating herein upon the occasion of Christs Resurrection from the Seventh day or Jewish Sabbath which is not so much commanded by Precept as confirmed by Practise in the Church so in the baptising of the Infants of Christian Parents who profeâ—s to believe in Jesus Christ onely for the means of salvation to them and their children which after Saint Cyprian Saint Jerom and Augustine affirm to have been the custom of the Catholike Church in and before their days so as no Bishop or Council or Synod began it Cypr. ep ad Fidum Aust ep 28. And no less in this of the peculiar distinct calling order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Afric in Con. Carth. 1. anno 419. Some things in the Church are setled by Canon others by custom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. Nicoen office and succession of the Ministry Evangelical In all which if the Letter and Analogy of Scripture were less clear than â—t is so that the doctrines of those particulars which are among Christians counted divine were â—ike Vines and Honey-suckles less able to bear up themselves in full authority by that strength and vertue which they receive from the Scripture Precept where undoubtedly their root is and from whence they have grown shooted out so far and flourished in all Churches yet the constant judgment and practise of the Church of Christ which is called the pilâ—ar and ground of truth are stayes and firm supports to such sweet and usefull plants which have so long flourished in the Church of Christ whose custom may silence perverse disputes of corrupt and contentious minds And indeed doth fully satisfy and confirm both my believe and my religious observation of those particulars as sacred and unalâ—erable Nor hath any of those things Eucharistia sacramentum non de aliorum manu quaÌ„ prasidentium sumimus Tertul de Coro Mil. Impositionem manuuÌ„ qua Ecclesiae mininistri in suum manus initiantur ut non invitus patior vocari Sacramentum ita inter ordinaria Sacramenta non numero Calvin Inst l. 4. c. 14. sect 2. Amb. l. 5. ep 32. ad Valentin Commends that sentence which the Emperours Father had wrote touching judicatories and Judges in Church matters In causa fidei vel Ecclesiastici muneris eum judicare debere qui nec munere impar nec jure dissimilis constanter assero more clear evidence from Scripture or Catholick practice than this of the calling and succession of the Ministry of the Gospell hath wherein some men after due tryall and examination of their gifts and lives made by those who are of the same function and are in the Church indued with a derivable Commission and Authority to ordein an holy succession of men in the Ministry for the Churches use are by fasting prayer and solemn imposition of hands in the presence of the faithfull people publikely and peculiarly ordained consecrated set apart sent and authorised in the power and name of Christ to preach the Gospell to all men to administer the holy Sacraments and respectively to dispense all those holy duties and mysteries belonging to Christian Religion among Christian people that is such as profess to believe that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of Sinners Which holy and most necessary custom of ordaining some fit men by others of the same function to be Ministers in the Church hath not only the unanimous consent and practise of the Orthodox Christians and purest Churches in all ages from the Apostles times But no Hereticks or Schismaticks who owned any
either listed himself or received his Commission Order is that wholsomest ayr in which Religion lives best There is no less necessity both in Piety and Policy to preserve the Laws of holy order and discipline in the Church of Christ on Earth which have the warrant and seal of his authority upon them and are for the preservation of truth peace and honour in the Church Since we find by all experience of times and most in our own That the pride and presumption of mens gifts and private spirits are no less want only active in matters of Religion than in Civill and Military affairs Now why any men of piety or in power professing the reformed Religion should incline either to connive at or to countenance any courses which evidently tend to the shame contempt confusion and extirpation of all true Religion as it stood in the profession of the Church of England opposite to the gross errors superstitions and prophaness of any that are known and declared enemies to it I can see no cause unless it be a supine negligence in some who as they grow greater Acts 18.17 so they are like Gallioes more careless in matters of Religion wholly intent to State interests as if States-men had no souls to save or no God to judge them and were to give no account of that power and advantage they have as well as that charge and care which lyes upon them to do all good they can to mens souls under their power or else there is some other interest secretly contrived and cunningly carried on here as by open hostility in other parts amidst the dusk of our civill Commotions and troubles by those sons of Edom Psa 137.7 and daughters of Babylon who have evill will at our Sion and say of our Jerusalem Down with it down with it raze it even to the foundations Jude 9. As it was for no good will that the Devil contended with Michael the Archangell about the body of Moses minding rather to have it Idolized than Embalmed No more is it from any honest zeal or pious principle that some men now so earnestly stickle about and indeed against the setled office and peculiar function of the Ministry either to have it in common or none at all with any divine authority and commission whose first Anti-ministeriall batteries which seemed to carry some shew of Scripture-strength I have hitherto resisted and repelled not dashing or opposing Scripture against Scripture but clearing its obscurer meaning in some few places by that most evident and concurrent Sense which is manifestly held forth in many plain passages and hath been constantly followed in the Churches of Christ from the first setling of Christianity in the world to this day Sensus Scripturae expetit ceâ—â—a interpretationis gubernaculum Tertul de Pres Non verba tantum defendantur sed ratio verbarum constituatur Id. As the Spirit of God in the Word cannot contradict it self in the main scope and design so where any variation or difference in the letter may seem to be It must be wisely reconciled by discerning the different occasion reason or ground of things sure we are the pretended gifts or dictates of privat spirits may in no sort be set up any way to contradict those testimonies and demonstrations of the Spirit which are so evidently shining from the Scripture as they are in none more than this of a peculiar function and holy ordination of the Evangelicall Ministry And here I might forbear to add trouble to you O Excellent Christians or any readers by any further enlarging of this Apology 18. Conclusion and Transition whereby to vindicate the honour of the divinely Instituted and Ecclesiastically derived Ministry of this Church Since the holy Scripture is as I have shewed so wholly fully and punctually for its peculiar Institution and its constant succession to the end of the world whereto it is not denyed but private gifts may come in with such assistance as is humble orderly and edifying but not as proud invasive and abolishing as Hagar they may do service in Christs family but they must not grow insolent and malipert against Sarah What ever can be produced in a matter of so high and religious a nature as the Ministeriall office and authority is beyond what the Scriptures the only infallible rule and the Churches constant practise the most credible witness do assure us is for the most part but as childish skirmishings with Reeds and Bulrushes after combating with Pikes and Guns And I find indeed that all after Cavills of the Anti-ministeriall faction arise not much beyond womanish janglings presumptuous boastings and uncomly bickerings for the most part where not religious reasonings but peevish Cavils and pertinacious Calumnies like black and ragged regiments impatient to see themselves so routed by the Scriptures potent convictions and the Churches constant custome do but rally themselves as in a case Perdue to see what can be done by volleys of rayling Rhetorick and virulent Calumniatings against the Ministers of the Gospell in this Church whole greatest fault is that which the devil finds with the best of men that they are as Job upright Job 1. Culpâ—â—â— in 〈◊〉 to Jobâ— non invenicus Satanae malicia ipsam inâ—â—centiam in crimen integritatem in calumnium insidiosè vertit Greg. Lingua maledicasanctos carpere sâ—let in solatium delinquentium Ieron ad Eust not that there is any just fault to be found with their holy Calling which hath nothing in it irreligious or unreasonable nothing immorall or imprudent nothing but what is fully agreeing to all order policy decency as following the best and holyest Examples uses and customs of the Church together with the rules of Divine Institution and the ends of all true Religion the glory of God and the good of Mankind both for souls and bodies for temporall and eternall welfare for internall peace of conscience and externall tranquillity in Civill and Church Societies both as men and Christians All which the Ministeriall calling regards and carries on as its holy design and work which no other Calling doth Not Magistrates or Lawyers or Physicians or Tradesmen or Souldiers who do not think themselves to stand charged in Christs Name with the care of mens souls so as to make it their business to instruct direct and watch over them in the wayes of salvation And for Ministers persons such as are truly worthy to be counted such their failings will not be found beyond what is incident to common infirmities and daily incursions of frailties inseparable from the best of men in this mortall pilgrimage All which the charity of humble Christians easily conceals and willingly excuses or pardons when they consider how free and full a pardon of all sins is from God by the Ministry offered to every penitent and believing sinner The grief and impotent despite which the prophane politick and pragmatick enemies of the Ministry of this and all reformed Churches
Governours in every Church as hath been proved than if some one or more cunning fellows should perswade credulous and silly people whom they find or lead into the dark or else blind them that they were indeed stark blind and had no power of themselves to see or open their eyes but must wholly be led by their guidance without having any sight or benefit of the Sun These poor seduced men have no more to do in point of relieving themselves and confuting so gross Impostors but only to open their eyes freely and to use the light of that Sun which they easily and clearly see shining over all the world which is not more evident to sense than this Truth is to judicious Christians That the power of Ordeining Ministers hath alwayes and only been in the Pastors Bishops and Guides of the Church who both ruled well and also laboured diligently in the Word and doctrine And since true Christians in this Reformed Church of England both Ministers and people have been so happy in this Church as to be delivered from the Romish superstitions and Papall usurpations they have now no cause to be less cautious or more patient to be gulled and deluded by popular seductions lest the second error be worse than the first Inasmuch as the furies and confusions of the vulgar are more dangerous than any errors of Popes or Bishops or Presbyters are like to be as Earthquakes are more dreadfull and pernicious than Eclipses or the Cloudings of the lights of Heaven The lights of the Church may recover their lustre and vigour in due time nor do they ever shine so dark but they afford a competent light to shew the way to Heaven But popular precipitancies and licentious extravagancies of the vulgar are likest to overthrow all religion and bury all Christianity by Gothick and Mahumetan methods in Atheism Illiterateness Confusion and Barbarity For as they have least skill in them and no authority given them to order and rule Church affairs so they have most passion and unbridled violence in them least able to distinguish between the abuse and use of things between gold and dross between what is of God or of Man when once they have got power and say that they know not what is become of their Mosesses Exod. â—6â— their divinely appointed guides their duly ordeined Bishops and Ministers the first thing they do is to make themselves molten Images and contribute both their Earings and their Ears their hearts and hands to those Calves which they set us for Tamuzzes Ezek. 8.3 or Images of jealousie and abominations whereby to provoke the God of heaven to wrath to reproach the honour of Christ to affront the true Ministers and to make the Reformed religion and this Church to become an hissing and astonishment to all round about A wise man of Spain saâ—d It is better in Church as well as in places of Civill power and Judicature to prefer corrupt men than weak and foolish The one is as a thief in a Vineyard who will only take ripe grapes till he is satisfied the other as an Asse which eats ripe and green crops the Vines treads down much with his heels and when his belly is full tumbles among them But our Antiministeriall Adversaries are still ready with scorn and laughter to demand What can Ministers 13. The vertue of holy Ordination Object either as Bishops or Presbyters confer more than other Christians in the point of Ordination What vertue or charm is there in the imposing of their hands or in their prayers by which to add to any mans ministeriall gifts and graces or to invest any man in a way of Church power more than is in any other Christians whose gifts and graces may be equall or exceeding their Infirmities far less than many Ministers are What power can they have to give the holy Ghost as they express in the form of Ordination yea whence do they challenge as of right the Name of Clergy-men as peculiar to their tribe and Calling where as all the Lords people are his lot and his inheritance and God is theirs Nor ought they contemptuously as by way of diminution to be called Lay-men or the Laity Since they are all spiritually anointed and chosen of God to be Kings Priests and Prophets I Answer Answ Of the Laity and Clergy Clem. Rom. ep ad Cor. p. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lay-man is bound up by Lay commands 〈◊〉 keâ— hâ— rank Igâ—â— epist frâ—quently Tertul. Hoâ—â—â— Presbyter qui cras Laicus Laicâ— Sacerdotaliâ— munera injungunt De prae ad haer c. 42. saepe alibi St. Cyprian often So Clemens of Alexand. Differentiam inter ordinem plebem constituit Ecclesiae autoritas honor per ordinis câ—nsessum sanctificatus à Deo Tertul. de exh ad Cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Const Apost l. 3. c. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Vid. Dr. Prideaux Praelect Consuetudo certissiâ—a loquendi magistra utendumque planè sermone ut nummo cui publica est forma Quintil. Jnst l. 1. c. 6. Sermo constâ—t ratione vetustate authoritate consuctudine Id. Vetera verba majestas religio quaedam commendat Id. to this last scruple first as least being not so much a beam as a mote in some mens tender eyes which like Leahs are easily offended As for the names then of Clergy and Laity in which the Nasuter Criticks of this age sent something of pride in the Ecclesiasticks or Ministers and of despiciency toward the faithfull people who are to be animated and flattered any way against the Ministry of the Church They may know that this distinction between the Clergy and Laity hath been used in the Church from the very first Primitive times as the antient Fathers Councils and the Histories of the Churches both Greek and Latin do testifie nor was the one ever intended or upbraided for a badge of vanity to the Ministry nor the other imputed for a brand of scorn to the people The piety and charity of those times were not at leisure thus to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stumble at straws I am sure as they antiently were so they still are usuall notes of difference in point of office and duty between Ministers and people not only in our ordinary Language yea in the exacter stile of our Laws which give both reall and nominall distinctions with the greatest authority Nor are they at all against the Scripture sense and meaning if they be not just to its words since the word of Christ hath evidently placed as limits of office so Marks and names of distinction between the one and the other as Pastor and Flock Doctor and Disciple Ruler and ruled c. Yea and we may easiâ—y gather from the Scripture dialect that as the faithfull people are in generall Clerus Ecclesia the lot or portion and heritage of the Lord So the Ministers are Clerus Ecclesiae A lot heritage and portion given by