the invisible Church but all that professe the name of Christ may and ought to be reputed members of the visible Church This Saint Paul hath put wholy out of controversy by telling us that in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor 2 Tim. 2.20 And for the elect in Saint Peters Text the great Patrons of absolute and irrespective election understand them either of general election to Christianity electis i. e. defaece hominum segregatis ad meliorem quandam sortem Aret. elect that is separated from the dregs and vap of mankind to a better lot and portion in Christianity Or at most elect in the judgment of charity so Calvin Gods election being a secret laid up in his own bosom which cannot be known but by the singuler and especial revelation of the holy ghost quaeri potest unde hoc compertum habuerit It may be demanded how the Apostle knew that these Persons were elect and his answer is we may not anxiously enquire concerning the election of our Brethren but make our judgment of it from their vocation ut pro electis habeantur quicunque per fidem in ecclesiam sunt coaptati that they should be deem'd elect who are joyned unto the Church by faith est enim hoc charitatis non fidei judicium the utmost judgment that we can make in this case being of charity only and not assurance and he sums up his resolution in these words quatenus ergo prae se ferebant se Dei spiritu regenitos in electis Dei ipsos numerat For as much therefore as they profes'd themselves regenerate by the holy ghost he reckons them among the elect This second title then elect doth not even in the judgment of these men oppose or gainsay our interpretation of ye by Christians all that professe the faith of Christ And thus you see in general who are the materials of this house ye Christians 2 More particulerly lively or living stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians are here called living stones waving some other respects by way of antithesis or opposition especially to those inanimate or dead stones that were the materials of the Jewish Temple Living stones i. e. such as have a principle of life and motion in themselves And they are therfore said in the preceding verse to come unto the foundation to whom coming The stones in the material Temple were not active they did not offer themselves or come unto the foundation but meerly passive they were brought and layed upon it but heer the stones are active and come and accordingly the Apostle bespeaks them as living stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only aedificati as Beza whom our translation follows built but aedifice mini as Tremel and the Margin in our Bibles be ye bvilt which cleerly implies not a little activity in Christians in building up themselves No doctrine hath ever shed a more malignant influence upon religion or cast the Professors of it into so deep a sleep as that which with an open face and directly or by consequence and with a glance of its eye ascribes the whole work of our salvation so to God as to deny man any activity in the conduct or promoting of it For they who are excited with the greatest earnestnesse to build up themselves are yet too prone to lye still in the dust but when men perswade themselves or are taught by others to beleeve that they cannot contribute any thing towards the building up of themselves they must unavoidably remain riveted to or rooted in the earth without any endeavour of coming to the foundation making any application of themselves to Christ As Suetonius observes of Tiberius religionum negligentiorem fuisse guippe persuasionis plenum cuncta fato agi he was the more carelesse in the things of religion because he was full of this perswasion that all things are guided by fate to prevent this the Apostle tels Christians that they are living stones in which expression as the priviledges of Christians are couch'd so their duty is implyed for as living stones you have a principle of reason and understanding to judge of the foundation whether it be a rock or sand as living stones you are endued with wils to make choice of the rock or sands as your foundation to come or not to come to to build or not to build upon the living stone Christ And thus you have an account of the 1. particuler the materials of this house ye and ye as living stones the next thing to be considered is The aedifice a spiritual house An House Thus the Church is frequently stiled in Scripture that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy selfe in the house of God which is the Church of the living God 1 Tim. 3.15 Heb. 3.5 6. and Mases verily was faithfull in all his house as a Servant but Christ as a Son over his own house whose house are we c. the Church is caled an house either metonymically as the house is put for the family that inhabit it as Gen. 7.1 and the Lord said unto Noah come thou and all thy house into the Ark. And now said Jacob Gen 30.30 when shall I provide for mine own house also or an house by way of allusion principally to the Temple or unto any other house 2. A spirituall house That is metaphorically and allusively to all intents and purposes in spiritual things that which an house is in temporal The estate of Christians as they are in Society is set forth to us in Scripture in divers and sundry terms sometimes of a flock ye are his flock frequently in the Psalms sometimes of husbandry ye are Gods husbandry 1 Cor. 3.9 sometimes of a building ye are Gods building 1 Cor. 3.9 and so in the Text a spiritual house In this spiritual house without offering violence to the allegory there are as in every wel built material house 3. things especially requisit symetry decor and distribution 1 Symetry This in a material building is the convenience or proportion that runneth between the parts and the whole and this reconciles those seemingly opposite things uniformity and variety Vniformity is so necessary if not to the beeing yet to the well or comely beeing of any house that without this it is but a confused heap yet it is not to be imagined that the most uniform building should not admit of variety for Art must be acknowledged in its highest pefection when it may be reduc'd to some natural principle the most judicious Artists being but the mimiques of nature Now the natural fabrick of Mans body is according to the saying of Protagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prototype of all exact symetry no structure can be possibly more uniform then our bodies in the whole figuration of them each side agreeing with the other both in the number the quality and in
day of the rain or tempest As for instance 1 They who build upon the bare name of Christianity There is a vast difference between nominals and reals names will never passe in the account of Heaven for things The Church of Sardis had a faire name a name that she lived but this did not advantage her any thing because she was dead Apoc. 3.1 2 They who build upon the shoulders of their religious progenitors the Grand-Mother Lois and the Mother Evnice It is an happinesse too great for Parents to entail their graces together with their estates upon their children all the holinesse they derive to them is a faederal holinesse only a leprous Father begets a leprous child the Father takes a potion and is healed of his leprosy but if the child use not that remedy he dies in his uncleannesse if you reflect upon the children of many holy men in Scripture you may behold Adams Cain Abrahams Ismael Isaacks Esau Davids Amnon Absolom Aarons Nadab Abihu Elies Hophni Phineas too many children are like Manasses Hoc uno patris spectaculum Quod ejus imaginem reddidi ex contrario Eman. Thesaur 3 They who expect the end without the means who build upon their predestination There is a predestination to works as well as to life For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Ephes 2.10 4 They who rely upon poor weak languishing intentions that never ripen into action the Poet derides those whose intentions were alwayes blossoming but never brought forth any ripe fruit cras te victorum c. good intentions fortifyed with pious resolutions doe fairly introduce one into the paths of virtue but the best intentions without action will never bring him to his journeys end The Jewes I beleeve intended as they said when they desired the Prophet to pray for them and say they according to all that the Lord our God shall say so declare unto us and we will doe it Jeremiah 42.20 and yet he tels them they dissembled in their hearts when they sent him unto the Lord because saith he I have declared it to you but ye have not obeyed the voyce of the Lord nor any thing for which he hath sent me unto you vers 21. good intentions are like the Angel that went before Toby to Rages but the non execuion of them is like the dog that followed after him 5 They who build upon their civil honesty or negative goodnesse they doe no man wrong they are not this or that the Scribes and Pharises were without controversy unblameable in their conversation towards men and it is not to be question'd but that the Pharise spake truth who said God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers I fast twice in the weeke I give tithes of all that I possesse Luke 18.11 12. and yet our Lord Christ saith except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat 5.20 6 They who build upon their religious performances their own righteousnesse Christ became a stone of offence to the Jews when they would be saved by the works of the Law Rom. 9.31 32. and Saint Paul saith Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace Galat. 5.4 We may safely say of all these as Christ did to his Disciples when they shew'd him the fabrick of the material Temple there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be throwen down Mark 13.2 2 Take heed of disalowing or rejecting Christ Beza upon the T. saith etiam nos hodie vita moribus reprobamus Men may and doe at this day reject Christ by their vitious lives and evil manners they reject or reprobate him in general who are disobedient to the word A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient 1 Pet. 2.8 they more particularly who refuse neglect or despise his ordinances the rejecting of them is the rejecting of Christ in his wisedome and faithfulnesse Every man that lives in a known sin prefers Barabbas before him It is this and this only that renders it a thing perfectly reasonable that the sufferings of sinners should be eternal in the place of torment because by rejecting Christ they contemn that immortal and eternal life which God puts into their hands and upon which they might lay hold by embracing and entertaining him Is there any thing more rational and equal then this that when God sets life and death before men immortal life by entertaining Christ and eternal death by rejecting him they who choose death should have their portion or part in it Take heed least while you acknowledge as you cannot but doe the reasonablenesse of this you doe not as the Jews did condemn your selves in a thir d Person Mat. 21.41 and so I passe from this to the second general 2 The superstructure or fabrick that is built upon this foundation ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house vers 5. In which there are three things considerable the materials edifice and the manner how it becometh such 1 The materials are 1. in general ye 2. more particularly lively stones If you would know 1 Who these ye are you must have recourse to the beginning of this Epistle in the first and second verses of the first chapter they are describ'd by two names strangers and elect 1 Strangers advenis inquilinis in solos Judaeos competit It appertaines to the Jews only saith Master Calvin upon the place who are here called strangers not as the beleevers are afterwards I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 because heaven is their Countrey and they are heer from home but because they were cast out from that Land the Land of Canaan which was peculierly theirs and were now dispers'd and scattered through Pontus Galatia Cappadocia c. Or Advenis strangers i. e. ijs qui ex gentilismo in rem publicam populi Dei transierant Gualt who were transplanted from gentilisme into the Society of Gods people I undertake not to umpire between Calvin and Gualter whether they were Jews or Gentiles but take that which they both agree in the ye heer the materials of this spiritual house to be Christians that is persons made proselites to the faith and profession of Christ whether from the tents of Judaisme or gentilisme it matters not the ye are Christians they the materials of this spiritual house but not all we hope will some say for the Apostle stiles them 2 Elect. whence they infer that none ought to be accounted members of the Church the materials of this spiritual house but the elect only The elect in their sense are I acknowledg the sole Members of
Congregation of Christians in all the World hath received and embraced the Episcopacy we contend for To this all the Fathers without exception of any one bear witness He among them who ascribes least to Episcopacy St. Jerom who was not a Bishop but a Presbyter of an inferiour Order whose Testimony therefore may stand in stead of many saith In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus caeteris superponeretur ad quem omnis cura Ecclesiae pertineret It is universally decreed that one chosen from among the Presbyters should be set over the rest to whom the whole care of the Church should appertain And that this was the universal Custom of the Church appears by this because those Hereticks who made a separation from the Church Catholick did yet retain this Order among them Thus the Authour of the Homilies upon St. Matthew Hereticks in their Schism have all those things among them which are proper to the true Church Similiter Ecclesias similiter Scripturas similiter Episcopos caeterosque Clericorum ordines They have their Congregations Scriptures Bishops and other Orders of the Clergy as the Church hath Aerius indeed in a Pang of indignation because he missed a Bishoprick which he stood for would have made himself equal to the Reverend Bishops by broaching this Doctrine Presbyterum ab Episcopo nulla differentia discerni debere That a Presbyter ought not to be distinguished by any difference from a Bishop but this errour of his was condemned by the whole Church When one wrote to St. Jerom Nihil interest inter Episcopum Presbyterum There is no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter he reproved him sharply in the Answer which he returned Hoc satis imperite This was not said for want of ignorance In portu ut dicitur naufragium you make shipwrack as they say Proverbially in the Haven Thirdly The Episcopacy under our present consideration is of venerable Antiquity in the Church having it's rise in the Apostles time In proof of which we can have no better Evidence then the Catalogue of Bishops in Irenaeus Eusebius Socrates and Theodoret who begin from the Age in which the Apostles lived Now no man can deny his assent to such Grave Authority so unanimously conspiring in matter of fact without incurring the guilt of singular irreverence and pertinacy It is as if one should deny that which all the Roman Histories affirm that the Consulship of Rome began from the Banishment of the Tarquins Will you hear St. Jerom Alexandriae a Marco Evangelista Presbyteri unum semper ex se electum in celsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant Ep. 85. The Presbyters of Alexandria ever since St. Mark the Evangelist having chosen one from among themselves and exalting him to an higher place stiled him Bishop St. Mark died in the eighth year of Nero about the year of our Lord 62. whose Successour St. John the Apostle yet living was Amianus to him succeeded Abilius to Abilius Cerdo After the Death of St. James Simon succeeded him in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem After St. Peter's departure Linus Anacletus and Clement or as some St. Peter yet living sate in the Episcopal Chair at Rome as Evodius and Ignatius did at Antioch A Record of such Antiquity confirmed by Ignatius the Disciple of St. John cannot be rejected by any save such onely who have no Faith for any thing that themselves saw not Who may as well deny that ever there was a Philip of Spain or Lewis of France or Henry King of England as that the persons before mentioned were Bishops of their respective Sees Fourthly The Episcopacy we intend is approved by Divine Right or as Bucer expresseth it Visum Spiritui Sancto utinter Presbyteros unus cur am singularem gereret It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost that one among the Presbyters should have the especial care of the Church Of this we have an undeniable Argument in the book of the Revelations where we find Christ from Heaven commanding St. John to write unto the seven Angels of the Churches of Asia The Title of Angel may I acknowledg be applyed in a general signification to every particular Pastour or Presbyter But here it is manifest Christ intends one in each Church onely whom he stiles the Angel in a proper and peculiar sence For It is no ways probable that Churches so large of such vast extent as Ephesus Smyrna and the rest were had but one Pastour or Presbyter in each of them Nay it is certain and evident concerning Ephesus that in the days of St Paul there were many Presbyters ordained or constituted to feed the Church of God Acts 20.17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church and said unto them verse 28. Take heed unto your selves and to all the flock c. to feed the Church of God And we may as rationally conclude concerning the rest that there were many Pastours in each Church Why then should Christ direct his Epistle to one the Angel if there had not been one among them of a Superiour Function and more eminent Dignity Sub Angeli nomine saith St. Augustine Epist 162. laudatur praepositus Ecclesiae Under the name of the Angel he commends the Prefect of the Church Angelos Ecclesiis Praesidentes dixit Hierom By Angels he understands the Presidents of the Churches And for Smyrna Polycarpus was without controversie Bishop of it ordained by St. John as Bullinger himself acknowledgeth and Irenaeus saith of him l. 3. c. 3. Polycarpus non solum ab Apostolis eruditus c. Polycarp was not onely instructed by the Apostles and conversant with divers of those persons who saw our Lord in the flesh but in Asia he was constituted by the Apostles Bishop of the Church of Smyrna whom I saw saith the Father while I was a young man I wholly wave many other Evidences and descend to a late Protestant Writer Marlorat in locum St. John saith he mentions first the Church of Ephesus in respect of the dignity of the place Nec populum aggreditur sed Principem Cleri utique Episcopum And he doth not apply himself to the people but to the Principal of the Clergy to wit the Bishop And because the Authority of Mr. Beza and Doctour Reinolds may possibly go furthest with those who have no great friendship for the Episcopal Dignity let us in the Point in hand hear them To the Angel saith Beza id est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quem nimirum oportuit inprimis de his rebus admoneri ac per eum caeteros collegas totamque adeo Ecclesiam That is the President who first ought to be admonished and by him his Colleagues and so the whole Church Reinolds in his Conference with Hart c. 8. Sect. 3. saith Though there were in the Church of Ephesus many Presbyters and Pastours to Administer to that Church yet there was one ever those many whom our Saviour stiles the