he should fight a good fight 1 Tim. i. 18. and a prophecy that forbad him to Preach with Saint Paul the Gospel in Asia Acts xvi so by the laying on of the hands of Prophets he might at first be called to the Ministery so Primasius Oecumenius upon the place say expressly and say not onely that he was called to the Ministery by the Prophets but that he himself was a Prophet For the thing it self Theodâ—ret in Tim. â— â— is clear that Timothy received that order by Divine Revelation and Saint Chrysostome Hom. 5. in 1 Tim. c. 1. saith that as the Holy Ghost said Separate me Paul and Barnabas so was Timothy chosen yea he saith it was a common custome or raâ—her a general Blessing that in the infancy of the Church the Prophets named what Ministers should be choseâ— Tunc quia niâ—il fiâ—bat humanum Sacerdotes ex Prophetia veniâ—bant Quid â—st â—x Prophâ—…ia ex Spiritu Sancto And Eusebius l. 3. c. 23. sâ—iâ—h baâ—…aâ— nâ— John at Ephesus and thereabout made many Ministers so somewhere supplying the Clergy with such as the â—piâ—it mâ—…d â—…drawing lots for such as the Spirit signified Seeing 〈◊〉 so many Expositions are given of this intricate Place and that by â—he 〈◊〉 learned which ever wrote Presbytery which in these days is asserted can scarce finde in Scripture a root from whence it should branch No as the lay Presbyter from 1 Tim. v. 17. may say I was never here grafted so the Spiritual Presbyter from the 1. Tim. iiii 14. may say I was never here planted yea they may be fellow-Mourners and sob together saying We that would have all things attested by Scripture have not a clear Scripture either for the one's Binding of hands or for the other's laying on of hands for these onely places are nonely places neither pregnant nor perspicuous But to leave the Lay Presbyter as one saluted by the way and to talk a little more freely to the Spiritual Presbyter as the person to whom this conference is intended Can Presbytery of it self create a Ministery Scripture doth not affirm it will Antiquity avouch it I doubt not or without doubt it will nor Epiphanius saith that Aerius the Arian was the first which gave Presbyters power to ordain Ministers but saith he this cannot be for the order of Bishops doth beget Fathers to the Church but Presbyters do but onely beget Chidren by the laver of regeneration and not Fathers or Doctours Episcoporum enim ordo Patres generat Ecclesiae Presbyterorum vero non potens generare patres per lavaâ—cri regenerationem generat filios Ecclesiae non tamen Patres aut Doctores Et quomodo posâ—ibile erat Presbyterum constituere non habentem manuum impositionem aequalem Episcopo Epiphan Haer. 75. how is it then possible that a Presbyter which hath not the power of imposition of hands should be equal to a Bishop Oecumenius in c. 5.1 ad Tim. saith that where Saint Paul commandeth Timothy to lay hands rashly on no man he treateth of imposing hands because he wrote to a Bishop as if it were peculiar to him Saint Chrysostome saith that onely in laying on hands Bishops go beyond Presbyters and have that onely thingmore then the Presbyter Chrysostom Hom. in c. v. 1. ad Tim. Saint Jerome saith the self same in his Epistle to Evagrius The Councel of Antioch saith that the Bishop shall have power within his own Diocess to ordain Presbyters and Deacons C. Antioch can 2. The Councel of Nice saith the Ministers of the Paulianists must receive imposition of hands from the Bishop of the Catholick Church C. Nicen. c. 19. And is there not reason for this when Bishops are the direct Successours of Apostles for if Christ said that I will be with you to the end of the World Matthew xxviii 20. the Apostles being dead where is Christ's perpetual Providence if there be not a perpetual succession the Ministery in General cannot prove this for the Apostle's were superiour to the seventy Disciples so there must be some to represent the Apostles which must be superiour to other Ministers and that the Bishops are those persons it may appear because they have often the honourable title of Apostles James the Bishop of Jerusalem who was not James the son of Zebedee for he was one of the twelve Apostles but James the Just who is usually called the brother of the Lord being no immediate Apostle but a Bishop Com. in Es for his very office sake is called an Apostle 1 Gal. xix and by Saint Jerome called the thirteenth Apostle Theodor. in 1 Tim. 3.1 Theodoret doth call Timothy the Bishop of Ephesus an Apostle Ruffin de adult lib. Orig. Clemens is said by Ruffin to be almost an Apostle and by Clemens Alexandrinus he is expressly called Clement the Apostle Ignatius by Saint Chrys encom Ignat. is stiled both Bishop and Apostle Rab. Ms in Tim 4. Rabanus Maurus saith that Bishops ruled whole Provinces being call Apostles Theodor. in 1 Tim. 3. And Theodoret saith that those which they now call Bishops they did formerly name Apostles I know it is Objected that the Apostolical Order being extroardinary it is not perpetual but that is not so for the calling of Aaron was extraordinary at first yet it was perpetuated in the succession so likewise the calling of the Apostles for though it be not perpetual in respect of that which was extraordinary as the gift of tongues healing and discerning of Spirits yet it is in respect of the ordinary offices else I cannot see how any Minister could at this day Preach or administer the Sacraments For as inferiour Ministers do derive from the Apostles the use of Preaching and Sacraments so do Bishops both these and Jurisdiction and the power of Discipline But it will be said that a Presbyter and a Bishop in Scripture is all one and so a Presbyter hath as much power in the Church both for ordaining and exteriour regiment as the best Bishop parcius istis Credat Judaeus Apella If it were so I am but a Presbyter and no Bishop and would faine be at work next to the creating of a race of Penitents I would be creating a race of Preachers and next to wrastling with Principalities and Powers would be delivering up men to Sathan I do not know but my heart might be as Ambitious and my hands as Pragmatical and my tongue as Devouring as any others but I read that we must not stretch our selves beyond our line nor be many Masters lest we receive the greater condemnation James iii. 1. The Lord will be sanctified in them that come near Him Levit. x. 3. No man must take this Office upon him but he that was called as Aaron was Heb. v. 4. I finde no calling for these things therefore I have no comfort in them nor courage towards them Pride is odious in a Lay-man it is execrable in a Clergy-man all men must
up his nest in that Locker suspect not his sincerity for I am privy to all his intentions I have turned his heart upside down in my hand and find nothing but pure spirit therefore such a man would not offer to misguide and mislead thus men are inchanted with their Teachers infatuated with their fancied Prophets Athen. l 6. c. 6. that as Euphantus said the people thought that Callicrates had Ulysses image in his seal so these think that their magnified Churchmen have the Vive Image of the holy Ghost in their lips yea they are so intoxicated with high opinions of their gifts that they drown them in their heady doctrines Ioh. Magnus l. 7. c. 17. as Fliolmus King of the Goths was drown'd in a Butte of rich liquors by his own Partizanes whose sweet cups he delighted to tast of Oh it is a dangerous thing to be too much addicted to plausible Counsellers ye are insnared with them before ye are aware ye think ye know all things they drive at and ye silly hearers know but only their tongue Fistula dulce canit the pipe makes a merry noise when the bird is ready to be catched Oh this Mercurial Syrinx is able to cast into a deep sleep the hundred-ey'd Argus dost think to have all politick designs chaunting upon a Preacher's tongues end no then could he never inchant For all his Saint-like language he hath underhand drifts which thou canst not nor shalt not pry into He hath undertaken a cause and to live by that cause he will sacrifice the honesty of his person the honour of his calling yea both credit and soul too rather then he will desert his cause Beware therefore of these same Temple-wizards there is a great deal of witchcraft in the pulpit O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you Thou art like to have a very unsteady soul if thou dost fix thy faith upon such a false mutable self ended Director I have Scripture for what I say A wonderfull and an horrible thing is committed in the Land the Prophets prophesie falsely and the Priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof Jer. 5.30,31 When Prophets are apt to circumvent and people willing to be seduced there is a crafty Teacher and a credulous hearer well met or ill met Believe not every spirit then but try the spirits whether they be of God Beware therefore of depending too much upon man for then thou must be made man indeed as simple a man as thy first father was by listening to what the Serpent said If the serpent were a Lecturer in paradise he met with two as weak-brained hearers a could be he preached seditious doctrine corrupted the Text Nequaquam moriemini Ye shall not dy at all and he having poisoned their judgement presently the serpentine venome the false doctrine wrought two caught in schism and rebellion the two Sectaries and Conspiratours have haughty hearts aspiring they would be no longer subjects but Princes no longer creatures but Gods Gods of the serpents making Aspes rather then Gods or very poysonous Gods the serpent by preaching them into a God head preached them out of paradise preached them into their grave and without Gods mercy had preacâ—…d them into hell here is the heaven that such preachers will bring men unto or the Godhead which they will leave them such a Godhead as the preachers themselves have It is strange the serpent could perswade our first parents to make them greater then he was himself but false doctrine doth so dazle the understanding that it can mind neither grounds nor consequences nor absurdities but onely the bright object before it Beware then of thy Church-man go with a circumcised heart and ear into the Temple lest thy magnified Teacher make thee a slave to his errour and carry thee in bondage to hel if thou beest not wary night may be unto thee for a vision there are those that can transform vices into virtues call good evil and evil good sweet sow'r and sow'r sweet light darknesse and darknesse light therefore if thou beest not sensible of thy Preacher thou wilt never be sensible of thy sin thou wilt turn sin into sanctity 8. When men contemn admonition for if thou hast vilified one warning thou wilt hazard to despise the next and so at last neither counsel nor commination checks nor threats will reform thee it is an heavy thing when faithfull advertisement Virgil. Ec. 2 projecta vilior alga is baser then any Sea-weed Saul Jeroboam Zedechias are woful examples He that being oft reproved hardneth his neck shall be destroyed without remedy Pro. 29.1 If the Ministers toung be the alarum-bell to awaken thee out of thy culpable condition then if thou wilt not be sensible of his admonition thou wilt never be sensible of thy sin a man should leave his sin without admonition for why should not every mans Conscience be his own Prophet but if the domestical Chaplain be tongue-tied should not a man hear the loud Crier in the Temple wherefore doth God send his Messenger if he cannot have audience or his admonition be anguish and a rage doth attend his reproofs Plutarch Qui admonentem non patiuntur de his nulla spes salutis they which will not endure them that give warning of such there is no hope of health Yet how commonly is it seen that rebuke is a grievance Iohn Baptist will soon have his head in a Plattâ—… if he must be talking against Herods incest Micaiah must to lâ—…le-ease if he doth prophesie against Ahabs mercy to Ramoth Amos must eat no bread in that Land where he must be denouncing judgement against the Idolatry of the Age Zonaras Ignatius the Patriarch of Constantinople must be cast out of his Chayr and be shut up alive in a Sepulchre if he will be reprehending Bardaes loose life Theodoret St. Chrysostome must have a double banishment if he cannot double with Eudoxia's violences There is a great cry in the world for couragious Teachers but if they be so they will meet with outragious Censurers if they tell Judah of her sin they will be told of it if they put a trumpet to their mouthes they will find Sakers and Demiculverins in their peoples mouthes the Minister of all the people in the world should be stout and zealous but if he be impartial it is easily found who will be impatient I see none more spighted then those which would sever men from their known sinnes and pluck men out of the clawes of the Devourer men are saved with a kind of rage or are sullen and savage if we will not suffer them to be quietly damned There are some which are all for moderate Teachers so moderate that they must see their riots and cheats and new fashions and what not and yet they must remain like a company of silenced Preachers or if they do speak against
Abihu's death there had like to have been another Funeral for Moses was even ready to have executed severe Judgment upon Eleazer and Ithamar for not eating the Goat the Sin-offering where God had commanded and for not bringing the Blood into the Holy-place and Aaron though he pleaded hard and Moses connived at the Trespass yet by Divines it is concluded that Moses was too Humane in the relaxation Some Judicious Expositours think there was too much natural infirmity in Aaron and too much condescension in Moses to pass by the aberration It is left as no precedent for them that sin pervicaciously It is a dangerous thing to innovate any thing in Church-rites That which is Apostolical is Apophthegmatical and ought to be taken up as Valueable and immutable If the Church be Built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles then I can Pronounce nothings well grounselled which do want their Fundamental Institution A Foreign Church may have something that pertains to the building but I doubt there is something defective therefore I must say as it is in Caâ—… viii 9. If she be a Wall we will build upon her a silver Palace and if she be a Door we will keep her in with boards of Cedar but 'till I finde in her a Wall and a Door I can bestow no great cost upon her to enrich her or adorn her Miriam may have breath in her but if she be stricken with a sore Leprosy she is half-dead whiles she liveth Sic ego sentio si alii non consintant unusquisque abundet sensu suo I do not say but that there are rare parts and singular endowments there but I cannot call any thing perfect without a just calling I am not certain whether thâ—…e can be right Baptism lawfull Preaching a due Administration of the Lord's Supper without a true Priesthood I fear it much and I have just grounds for my jealousie I like her Profession well I would I could like her Polity aswell that I might say with the Apostle I rejoyce beholding your order together with your stedfast Faith Col. 11.5 Privileges Principles an accurate Wit Fancies of men confederacy with them that seem holy will not do all no the law is strict God is a Jealous God a little Leaven may corrupt the whole lump he that is unjust in a little hath his disparagement there can be no exactness without a general Perfection Loth's Wife was turned into a pillar of Salt for the cast of an Ey Moses was debarred entrance into the Land of Canaan for striking the Rock when he should but have spoke to the Rock The High-places were enough for a grievance Oh! if we feared the opening of the Books or the appearance before the white Throne we would leave palliating and descanting and conform to the Rule Yea cry out To the law To the testimony for Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Therefore if the Foreign Church can shew her Consanguinity of Government from the Blood of the Apostles I shall acknowledg the kindred but otherwise my heart may shake rather then I can shake Hands with her I may piety her but I cannot embrace her I may pray for her but cannot magnify her I cannot pronounce her sound but onely send her to the Physician and she must be cured by the right Party I cannot allow her a College of Physicians to consult with for then she may spend all her mony upon Physicians but her Bloody issue will never depart from her till she hath touched the hem of Christ's garment In the state she is in I have no Vindication for her let other Advocates if they will justify her but I have thus much charity to wish her to repent and reform and if counsel do not prevail my bowels shall yearn for her but my toung cannot say to her All-hayl But for the forreign Church sick or sound we will leave her to her self and to her medicinal Artists about her which warrant her good constitution for our selves let us praise God for our health and seek to preserve it Let us assure our selves that there is nothing more requisite in a visible Church then a just government without this there is neither peace beauty order or purity of the Ordinances If every calling of the Nation ought to be justifiable how much more the Ministery Else a man shall suspect every Church Duty which he doth communicate in and be afraid whom to acknowledg as a true Messenger from God Almighty A great matter to sanctify a Nation is a sanctified Ministery I mean a sanctified Function for all Sanctification is but sorcery in respect of the external conveyance of it which doth not flow from a right Spring-head The wind I know bloweth where it listeth and I have nothing to do with the secret motions of God's spirit but for a publique assurance right Ordination is the best confirmation yea the most Orthodox ratification Away with Topical reasonings give me a Demonstrative argument that which is Apostolical to men is Characterical Jannes and Jambres had an art of inchantment Prophets that cause the people to err and bite them with their teeth can cry A Vision though it be a lying divination False Apostles can transform themselves into Angels of light The star called Wormwood hath a brightness in it The beast that came out of the earth had two horns like 〈…〉 There is no trusting to appearances and pretences the high satisfaction must be a justifiable undoubted commission Oh! that the King's Daughter who is to have her rayment of Needle-work should wear any thing about her that is not True-stitch that the Temple should be overlaid with any thing but pure gold What is comfortable in any Church where the Squinancy is in the throat where the Sermon-Bell is riven where there is a suspicious supposititious Ministery a lawfull Heir a lawfull Spouse a lawfull Officer are not more necessary then a lawfull Ministery Was God angry with them which went and were not sent and will not fury arise in his face against unauthorised Messengers Men must be put apart and separated for this Calling Rom. 1.1 and be allowed of God which are put in trust with the Gospel 1 Thes 2.4 And be Ordained Preachers 1 Tim. 2.7 Are the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven to be put into all hands is every one to be a Steward in God's Family no Unto me is this Grace given to Preach the unsearchable Riches of Christ 3 Ephes 8. How else is the Gospel a Mistery or this Function an Ordinance The sons of Scaeva met with claws and were rent to purpose because they would be dealing with that which they had no Authourity to meddle with And do these scratches terrify none though the Devils be quiet for a while are not their Talons to be feared in another World Is the Gospel a Feast and may every one invite Guests no Wisdom hath her Maidens to send
to defend you no it is thought that the Ghost of a Clergiman frighted him out of the world and was more fatal to him then the Flanders Prauncers Whether he went flying away in the ayre or a special Messenger from his old Master fetched him away in hast is uncertain Stat 2. Syl. but this we are sure that if he did not leave his skin he did leave his gantlet behind him Immensis urnam quatit Eacus umbris Ye must stand or fall then by your selves he is not able to protect you and indeed what can protect you no your outrages are in Gods eares and do cry night and day to make your Plagues wonderful and when he shall call you to account and ye shall see fury arising in his face and brimstone sprinkled upon your habitations ye shall see how soon these possessions gotten by violence will waste away Can ye read Is Scripture your infallible rule do ye beleeve that the Law it self is not more binding then the curses thereof will be confounding then lay to heart these evident places Behold I will judge between the fat sheep and the leane sheep Because ye have thrust with thigh and shoulder and pusht at the weake with their hornes till they be scattered therefore I will judge between sheep and sheep Ezech. 34.20,21,22 Forasmuch as your treading is upon the poor and ye have built houses of hewen stone but ye shall not dwell in them ye have planted pleasant Vineyards but ye shall not drink of the Wine of them Amos 5.11 As the Patridge gathereth the young which she hath not brought forth so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and at his end shall be a foole Jer. 17.11 yea and if ye will have a memorable place look with both your eyes upon that which is presented you in Job and be not blind in the viewing and reviewing of it Chap. 27. Vers 7. Mine Enemy shall be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous Vers 8. For what hope hath the hypocrite when he hath heaped up riches if God take away his soule Vers 9. Will God heare his cry when trouble cometh upon him Vers 10. Will he set his delight upon the Almighty will he call upon God at all times Vers 11. I will teach you what is the hand of God and I will not conceale that which is with the Almighty Vers 12. Behold ye your selves have all seen it why then do ye thus vanish in vanity Vers 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage of Tyrants which they shall receive from the Almighty Vers 14. If his Children be in great number the sword shall destroy them and his posterity shall not be satisfied with bread Vers 15. His remnant shall be buried in death and his widows shall not weep Vers 16. Though he should heap up silver as the dast and prepare rayment as the clay Vers 17. He may prepare it but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the silver Vers 18. He buildeth his house as a moth and as a lodge which the watchman maketh Vers 19. When the rich man sleepeth he shall not be gathered to his fathers they opened their eyes and he was gone Vers 20. Terrors shall take him away as waters and a tempest shall carry him away by night Vers 21. The East-wind shall carry him away and he shall depart and it shall hurl him out of his place Vers 22. And God shall cast upon him and not spare though he would fain flee out of his hand Vers 23. Every man shall clap their hands at him and hiss him out of his place This is the Epilogue of Injury and Oppression thus goes tyranny off from the Stage Oh therefore let all hear and fear and with tingling ears and trembling hearts consider the dreadful Catastrophe of Estates gotten unjustly Beware how dost eat other mens fruits without money or dost grinde the faces of thy Neighbors to get Manchet to feed thy hungry appetite If thou wouldst have a lasting estate let it be a just estate not gotten by policy but equity not by craft and cruelty but by Conscience and Prudence for thou seest that it is the Wiseman that hath Felicity with Permanency it is the Man of Understanding and Prudeuce which hath the State which if prolonged But by a Man of Vnderstanding and Knowledge the State thereof shall be prolonged 4 This doth serve to shew that he is the happy King by whom a state is prolonged What have we to do with the Many Princes no we had enough too much of them they had Government after Government people were afflicted and amazed with such diversity of forms and fictions of new Dominations that it is anguish and astonishment to recount them they were so tossed and tortured with the several scruples of mens regulating brains Let these Many Princes therefore stand by with their many Conceptions and give us the Man that that One Man which by his Vnderstanding and Knowledge can frame up such a Government as may last to ages and by the discreet constitution of it may be prolonged Heaven hath its excellency because it is a Firmament and the Earth because it doth stand upon stable pillars and a Covenant bec use it is unchangeable and Marriage because it is indissoluble and an inheritance because it doth carry a succession with it and is a lasting possession which doth pâ—ss from the Father to thâ— Son that is the most blessâ—d Government which is firme and fixed That is a great abatement to the honour of a thing which is subject to Time and Chance Eccles 9.11 Nothing is eminent which is without a certainty Chrys hom 9. in Matth. Nihil potest sine radice florere Nothing can sprout and flourish without a root Casuall things are calamitous things because they are done preater intentionem agentis Arist 2. Phys beyond the intention of the Agent Those things are most pleasing to man which retain their motion and vertue and like true natural things have most force at the end As the excellency therefore to direct a thing is wisedome Eccles 10.10 So that is the truest wisedome which doth settle things with the longest duration In quietness and confidence is the strength Es 30.15 VVhen men need not fear any alterations declinations or abolitions therefore the Spirit of God speaking of a good Governour sâ—ith that he shall be a man of peace 1 Chron. 22 9. The Prophet Esay speaking of such a good Governour sâ—ith thâ—t the work of justice shall be peace and assurance for ever people shall dwâ—ll in the Tabernacle of peace and there shall be sure dwellings Es 32.17,18 For an heavy thing it is when Government is but like Summer fruit or a vision of the night or a rolling instrument A comfortable thing it is when people can say of their