Religion and of the true Ministry of this Church which is almost overborn and oppressed by the cunning and clownish clamours and not by any true valour worth or virtue of their enemies As the Bohemian Nobility and Gentry did with great earnestnesse intercede for Jerom of Prague to the Councell of Constance by their petion subscribed with their names An. 1415. Nothing would be more worthy of that ancient honour which the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation hath gained and enjoyed in all the world than to see now the Christian zeal and gallantry of their spirits therefore the more forward to bear up the dignity of Christs holy Ministry by how much they see so many set to oppose it seeking by contempt to debase it and by poverty to oppresse it presuming that the present Ministers though never so learned godly and faithfull once over burthened with secular necessities will not long be able to assert the honour of their calling nor will any after generation succeed to inherit their poverty and paines but onely such as shall further debase the dignity of the function How glorious were it for honourable and worthy gentlemen Math. 27.57 Joh. 19 38. Mark 15.43 Luk. 23.50 Joseph of Arimathea A rich man an honorable counsellourâ— a good man a just also a Disciple of Christ c. owned Christ dead and begged his body of Pilate c. like Joseph of Arimathea whom good education and experience of true Religion have matured to pious wisdome and sober zeal now to own Jesus Christ when the world is stripping scourging mocking and crucifying of him when he is so much forsaken of those men whose feares dare not own him or whose lusts aim to make a prey of him Now to give the more honour and respect to the true Ministery of this Church by which they have beene baptized and educated in Christian Religion when they see so many vile and illiterate spirits studying to debase the persons striving to destroy the very function This were worthy of a true gentleman whom vertue and grace more then birth and relations make such to stand by the forsaken to countenance the dejected to pity the oppressed and at least to Petition and intercede for the preservation of the true Ministry and worthy Ministers of whom they and the whole Nation have had so great and good experience I doe not think it seasonable now to invite Gentlemen where their estates and expenses may bear it to follow those patterns of extraordinary munificence which some of their rank have heretofore given them by restoring the Impropriate Tithes and alienated glebes to the Church either freely or at an easie price This were now to give sacrilegious rapine a greater temptation which dayly gapes to devour all the remains of the Churches Patrimony and Dowry To adde any bloud now to the Churches veins were but more to provoke the thirst of greedy and unsatisfied horseleeches of this age Prov. 30.15 who cry Give give till they have quite exhausted the very life and spirits of all true Religion This motion and bounty will be more seasonable in better times Rom. 2.22 when Sacriledge shall be accounted as it is a most damnable sin and not a trade or a fruit of zeal or a flower of reformation which by the Apostles arguing is a more heynous sin than that of Idolatry in as much as this owns a god though false this robs God though true 1 Cor. 12 31. But behold I shew your noblenesse a more excellent way my ambition is to propound an higher degree of Christian glory to you the learned and religious Gentry which is to follow the steps of that noble Prince Phil. Melanct. Camerarius highly commend him for his piety and zeal he died 1553. George Duke of Anhalt who disdained not having Ministeriall gifts to serve Christ and the Church at Marburg in the work of the Ministry taking upon him holy orders in times of the greatest contradiction against the reformed Religion and esteeming it greater honour to tread in Christs more immediate and narrowest steps than to enjoy the more spacious pathes of secular pleasures and State imployments If you know the excellency of Christ the vanity of this worlds glory Mat 19 28 29. the worth of mens soules the weight of that Crown which is prepared for those that forsake all and follow Christ you cannot think your selves disparaged by this my humble motion to you Your estates will set a greater lustre now on you in the eyes of good people than ever the great state pomp plenty and dignities of former times set upon your predecessours who of many of your families were Church men and many of them very worthy ones Where God hath given you gifts fit for so sacred a service of him and his Church no man can propound to you a more goodly province wherein gratefully to use them or a more eminent way of preferment wherewith to entertain your pious and commendable ambition which is most worth the pregnancy of your parts and g nerousnesse of your spirits No Cedar is too tall or goodly for the building of Gods Temple Nor may it disdaine to descend from Lebanon to the holy hill of Zion and no Jewell is too rich and glorious for Aarons breastplate nor for the foundations and wals of the New Jerusalem The more splendor God hath set upon you the more shall you reflect to his glory and the honor of that Religion you professe by devoting your selves to serve him and his distressed Church in times when labourers are few and those much overburthened If any religious way of life might be meritorious this would be beyond the strictest votaries in as much as it carries more paines and more benefit with it I have seen by the experience of Gods bounty The advantages of an estate with the Minâ—stry how great advantages an estate gives to any Minister if God gives him grace and wisedome with it How it addes to his just confidence and courage in serving God and guiding his people how it redeemes him not onely from vulgar depreciatings mean thoughts and worldly solicitousnesse but also from the temptation of flattery popularity and that most sordid shamefull dependance on othâ—rs frownes and favours their givings and withdrawings I know how much it addes boldnesse credit and authority to a Ministers words to his reproofs comforts monitions and examples As the expressions of those men whom not necessity of subsisting but the conscience of doing good the unfeigned love they have to Christ the firm beleif they have of the Gospell and the value they have of mens soules put upon the work of preaching Then will the country people think such Ministers of the Gospell to be in good earnest when they see hospitable relief of the poor Saepius emolliunt cleemosynarum dona quos non commovent concionum verba Adeo facta dictis sunt sonantiora 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
all Prophets are all Teachers c. 18. All are not nor are any such as they are Christians or gracious c. 1 Cor. 12. ought to minister holy things to others to challenge the Keys of Heaven to themselves to be as in Christs stead to rule and oversee his house which cannot avoide as the Apostle proves abominable absurdities and detestable confusions no way beseeming the wisdom of Christ the majesty of Christian Religion or that order and decency which ought to be in Church-Assemblies being as contrary to reason as if every servant in an house should chalâ—enge the power of the Keys and the Stewards place or every member the office of the eyes tongue and hands by vertue of that common relation it hath as well as these parts to the same body the same soul and head As then right reason tells us beyond all reply That neither natural nor civil nor religious common gifts endowments or abilities instate any person in the office of Magistrate Judge Ambassador Herald Notary or publick Sealer Fraus est injuria quic quid agitur sub alterius persona sine debita ab illo autoritate Reg. Jur. Matth. 28.18 All power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or authority is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth that is in order to perfect Christs design his Churches good Acts 1.8 Autoritas delegata ab altâ—rius voluntate pendet tam quoad ipsam potestatâ—m quam ad derivandi modum Reg. Jur. 1 Cor. 4.19 I will know not the speech of them that are puffed up but the power V. 20. For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power i. e. That holy polity and orderly Kingdom which Jesus Christ hath set up and governs in his Church is not managed by confident praters but by authoritative Preachers Matth. 7.28 As Christ Jesus so his true Ministers teach and administer holy things as men having authority and not as the Scribes which places require not onely personal sufficiencies for the office but an orderly designation and induction to it from the fountain of civil power either mediately or immediately The same right reason which is most agreeable and servient to true Christian Religion requires a right derivation or conveyance of all supernatural Ministerial Church power which is in and from Jesus Christ as the sole supreme head and divine origin of it either immediately as they and none others had to whom Christ first consigned it and both by miraculous gifts and works confirmed it to be in them or mediately as those Bishops and Presbyters had it who without force fraud or any sinister way of usurpation or bold intrusion received this power from the Apostles by prayer and benediction with imposition of their hands in the name of Christ and from them their successors have lawfully derived it without interruption to the true Ministers of the Gospel even to this day as I have proved which not onely the Scriptures of undisputable verity but even those other very credible Histories of the Church and other Records of learned and holy Men in all ages to these times which the providence of God hath afforded us do abundantly declare all which to deny with a morose perverseness or rustical indiffereâ—cy is as if a Hog should answer all arguments with grunting And to act contrary to so strong a stream of concurrent Authorities both as to the judgment and practise of the Church in all ages is a work onely fit for Ranters and Seekers and Fanaticks or for Jews Turks and Heathen Infidels but not for any sober Christian that owns in the least kinde the Name of Jesus Christ or desires to be a member of any true Christian Church In which as all true and humble Christians have always enjoyed and with thankfulness owned the rightful succession and authority of their oâ—dained Ministers Pastors and Teachers so the Lord from Heaven in all ages hath witnessed to them by his blessings of truth and peace on the hearts of his people and by their means chiefly continuing the light of the Gospel to these days amidst those Heathenish persecutions Heretical confusions and Schismatical fractions which have sought to overthrow the Being or the Purity or the Order and Unity of the true Church To this judgment and testimony of Scriptures and antient Writers both in right and fact I might adde a cloud of witnesses from later reformed Divines which were very learned and very holy men far above the vulgar spirits both in other Churches and in this of England all agreeing with our excellent Bishop Jewel Bishop Jewels Apology Ministrum Ecclesiae legitime vocari oportere rectè atque ordine praefici ecclesiae Dei Neminem autem ad sacrum Ministerium pro suo arbitrio ac ibidine posse se intrudere That no may may intrude himself into the Ministry by his own will and pleasure or by any others who are not of that Order and Calling but he ought to be lawfully called and duly ordained by those in whom the lawful succession of ordinative power ever hath been and still is rightly placed and continued Agreeable to which there is a whole Jury of eminent Modern Divines alleged by a late industrious and ingenuous * See Master Halls Pulpit guarded Author who hath spared me that pains 9. The Priestly order among the Jews Joel 2.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niss de vita Mos Aronis Virga 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is Pel. l. 3. ep 20. Philo. Judaeus de sacerdotâ—o Aaronis calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numb 16. Exod. 19.6 2 Chro. 26 20. Vzziah ceased to be fit to rule as a King being smitten with Leprosie who usurped the office of the Priest 1 King 13.33 4. I may adde by way of confirmation of that common equity and rules of order which must be among men in all things and most necessarily in things truly religious The inviolable Function and peculiar Office or Order of the Priests and Levites which were the Ministers of the Lord in his antient Church of the Jews which is a most convincing instance to prove not the sameness and succession of that Order but the equity comliness and exemplariness of a peculiar Ministry for holy things among Christians under the Gospel since that Levitical Ministry was not more holy or honorable nor more distinguished in power and authority and office from the people than this in the Christian Church which is more immediately derived from Christ as clearly instituted and ordained by him and more fully exhibitive of him both in the Historical Truths and in the Mystical gifts and graces of his Spirit Yet we see who so despised or violated that Order and Ministry among the Jews under pretence of a common holiness in Gods people who were in a spiritual sense indeed called an holy Nation and a royal Priesthood so as to confound the Functions and Offices divinely distinguished either the earth from beneath devoured them
Donatists of old were who so challenged the title of the Church to their factions as to exclude all others and refuse the offers and means of accord As Cyprian Ep. 95. and Aust Ep. 164. tell us To which brands of Schism we are then lyable only when we recede or separate from visible communion with any Church without just and weighty cause shewn out of the word or when we go further from them than there is just cause and that too without charity refusing the good which they have while we withdraw from the evill we suspect Which would be the case of the Church of England in this point of immoderate Reformation if we should as some would have us therefore separate from all Scriptures Sacraments Ministry Primitive Government and order because all these were retained used and after abused much by the Roman Church and Papall party we are bid to come out of Babylon Rev. 18.4 but not to run out of our wits to act as Gods people with meekness moderation and Charity not with that fierceness passion and cruelty which makes us as Sons of Belial inordinatly run from one Antichrist to another Many Christians in the Roman Church may have in them much of Antichrist in some kinds and so God knows may many others in other kinds either in Doctrine or manners in endless innovations and unsetled confusions or in rigor and uncharitableness All which may betray us to what we seem most to abhor in Antichrist for if nothing have more of Christ than Charity nothing can have more of Antichrist than that uncharitableness Uncharitableness is as Antichristâ—an as error A ChristianoruÌ„ dissidiis venturus Antichristus occasionem accipiet Naz. Orat. 14. which many men nourish for zeal mistaking a Cockatrice for a Dove and a firy Serpent for a Phenix Which may be as Anti-Christian in popular furies as in papall tyrannies in confusions as in oppressions It is strange how some men cry out against the cruelty of some Papists which indeed hath been very great when yet Qui Christi non est Antichristi est Jeron Ep. 57. ad Damas they have the same Spirit of destruction in their own breast both against the Papists and others longing for such a Kingdom of Christ as they call it and such a downfall of Antichrist which shall consist in War and Blood and Massacres against and among all Christians which are not of their mind and side We think that in charity we ought not to impute the faults and errors of every Pope or Doctor of the Roman side to all those of that profession Nor ought we take those learned men among them alwaies at their worst finding there is great difference between what they may hold in the heat of publike disputes and what they opine and practise in a private way noâ— are their death-bed tenets alwaies the same with those of their Chayrs and Pulpits Besides many of the more devout and learned men among them are now both in opinions and lives much more modest holy and Reformed than some were heretofore whose Reformation in judgement or manners in verity purity and charity we do really congratulate and joy in And for the Body of the common people among the Romanists many are ignorant of those disputes wherein the mistaking is most dangerous which if they do hold yet it is under the perswasion and love of truth Qui à seductis parentibuus erâ—oâ—em acceperunt quaerunt autem cauta solicitudine veritatem corrigi paâ—ati cum invenerint hi nequaquam sunt inter haereticos deputandi Aust Ep. 162. 1 Cor. 3.12 retaining still the foundation of Christ Crucified and hoping for salvation only by his merits as many now profess to do and living in no known sin but striving to lead an holy and charitable life in all things Charity commands us to think that in such the mercy of God accepting their sincere love to the truth and their unfeigned obedience to what they know pardons particular errors which they know not to be such wherein no lust of pride or covetousness c. either obstructs or diverts them from the way of Truth Though the superstructures may be many of straw and stubble which shall perish yet holding the foundation Christ crurcified in a pure conscience they shall be saved in the day of the Lord Though the vessell be leaky in many places yet by great care in steering and frequent pumping that is true faith and repentance it may keep the soul from Shipwrack and drowning in perdition which is embarked in the bottom of Christian Religion and which steers alwaies by the compass of conscience setting all the points of conscience by the Chart or rules of Scripture as neer as he can attain by his teachers or his own industry We are sorry for our necessary differences from the Romanists or others which yet our consciences so far command us as we think our selves enlightned by the word of God contrary to which we cannot and ought not to be forced actually to conform or to comply with any men in things Religious Yet have we no lust of faction no delight in separation no bloody principles or tenets against any Christians of any particular Church desiring the same charity from them to us which may in lesser differences from each other yet unite us to Christ and to the Catholick Church as true parts of it though infirm or diseased This temper we should not despair of in the devouter and humbler Romanists if they were not daily enflamed by politick Spirits and violent Bigots among them who will endure no Religion as Christian which doth not kiss the Popes Pantofle or hold his stirrop or submit to that pride flattery and tyranny which some of them have affected when indeed it ill becomes those that chalenge a chief place in Christs Church to be so vastly different from the example of the crucified Saviour of Christians Such talents then as have been once divinely delivered to the Roman as to all other Christian Churches we have all aright to as believers in private and as Christians or Churches in publike communion and profession nor can these Jewels be so embezeled by being buried or abused but that we may safely take them up clear and use them together with those other which we have obteined through the grace and bounty of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ In whose name and right we as a part of his Catholick Church received them first and enjoy them now only Reformed according to what we first received of them without any prejudice or diminution to their true and intrinsecall worth which is divine by reason of our fellow servants former or present idle imperious impure or injurious use of them We accept and use the holy vessels which belong to the temple and the Lord of the Church Ezra 7. without scruple when they are graciously restored out of the profane hands of revelling Balshazzers The remaining silver censers
might rule and reign in Christs stead It is upon other accounts than this of being a Bishop or Prelate in a part of the Church that the Pope is by many charged with the odious character of Antichristian namely in reference to that ambition pride and usurpation which by fraud and force the Bishops of Rome have obtained and chalenge or exercise over all the world and specially over these Western Bishops and Churches in later times Greg. in Epist. 32. Mauritio 600. years after Christ namely since Gregory the greats dayes who was an humble devout and holy Bishop and had many pious martyrs his Predecessors as Popes or Fathers in that See of Rome who abhorred the name of Universall Bishops affirming they were Antichrist who ever arrogated that name of Universall Bishop Also for those gross abuses errors tyrannies superstitions and persecutions which many Popes have made in the Churches of Christ contrary to the word and example of Christ and the Canons of generall Councils From all which we had a Church and Ministry happily reformed even by the care and constancy of many holy and learned men who were Bishops and Martyrs in this Church of England As then we do not abhor to be men or Christians because the Pope is a man and professeth to be a Christian So neither may we dislike Bishops because the Pope is one nor Presbyters and Deacons because there be many of that title and office in the Church of Rome True Epispacy may consist without secular and civil advantages But in the last place if primitive Episcopacy and Apostolicall Bishops now poor and devested of all secular power and ornaments of honour and estate and in this conform to their Predecessors in primitive and persecuting times may not in reason of state with publick honour be restored and established in this Church of England yet it may be hoped that the Indulgence and liberty of times will give so much tolleration That those whose judgements and consciences bind them either to be so ordeined Ministers or to receive the comfort of divine Ministrations only from such as are in holy orders by the safe and antient way of Episcopall Ordination may have and enjoy that liberty without perturbing the publick peace which both Presbyterians and Independents doe enjoy in their new wayes For nothing will savour more of an imperious and impotent spirit whose faith and charity are slaves to secular advantages and interests than for those who have obtained liberty for their novelties to deny the like freedom to other mens Antiquity which hath the Ecclesiasticall practise and precedency of 1600. years besides the preponderancy of much reason Scripture and holy examples All which to force godly grave and learned men Ministers or people to renounce or to comply with other wayes against their judgements or else to deprive them of all holy orders employments and ministrations in the Church as Christians cannot but be a most crying and self-condemning sin in those men who lately approved that antient and Catholick way and after dissenting at first desired but a modâ—st tolleration Since then the Pope as a Bishop is not Antichristian as I have proved neither can it be affirmed with any sense or truth that either Episcopacy it self or Bishops Pastors and Governours in the Church are Antichristian It will easily appear to sober Christians how poor popular and passionate a calumny that is which some weak minds please themselves to object against the Ministry of the Church of England as if it were Antichristian because the Ministers received their Ordination and Induction both to the office and exercise of their Ministry by the hands and authority of Bishops with those Presbyters assistant who were present which was the Universall practise of all Churches antiently in Ordeining Presbyters and is at this day of most This false and odious reproach of Antichristian Ministry many Presbyters preposterously seek to wipe off from the face of their Ministry as they are Presbyters while yet with the same hand they make no scruple to besmear the faces of Bishops and Episcopacy Not considering that while they poorly gratifie the vulgar malice of some men against all Bishops they still sharpen their spitefull objections against themselves as Presbyters As then this solemn and holy Ordination of Ministers by Bishops herein England by prayer fasting and imposition of hands 7. Bishops in England ordeining Presbyters did but their duty according to law was Antient and Catholick no way against Reason or Scripture yea most conform to both in order to Gods glory and the Churches welfare which I have already demonstrated So I am sure in so doing Bishops did no more than what their place office and duty required of them here in England according to the Laws established both in Church and State which had the consent of the whole Church and Nation both Presbyters and people as well as Prince and Peers No wise man may blame that act Aequum est 〈◊〉 quâ—m feceris susserisve legem feras Reg. Jur. or exercise of government and authority in an other which he was invested with did enjoy and acted in by publick consent declared in the Laws wherein each mans particular will is comprehended nor may that be sayd to be a private fault which is done in obedience to a publick Law Bishops then duly ordeyning Ministers in the Church of England had the approbation of this Church and State no less than of all Antiquity and of all the Modern forein Churches even those that have not Bishops who yet ever commended and applauded that Venerable Order here in England As for Scripture which some pretend against Bishops and for other wayes I never read any place commanding any one or two or more Presbyters to ordein or govern in any Church without a Bishop Nor do I find any place forbidding a Bishop to ordein and rule among and with the Presbyters According to that appointment of Timothy and Titus which is of all most clear for investing both Ordination and Church jurisdiction at that time eminently though perhaps not solely in one man and if that Constitution in the Churches of Ephesus and Crete carry not a Precept or binding exemplariness with it to after-times which Antiquity judged and followed Universally yet sure it redeems true Episcopacy sufficiently and all good Bishops in their right and moderate government of the Church especially in this point of Ordeining Ministers from being any way Antichristian to which we may be sure the blessed Apostle Paul would never have given any such countenance or patern as that Jurisdiction and power given to Timothy and Titus must needs be Nor are indeed the reproaches of popish and Antichristian added by vulgar ignorance or envy to Episcopacy any other than devillish false and detestable Calumnies invented by wicked men to the reproach and blasphemy not only of so many holy and worthy Bishops in all ages and Churches as well as in England but
also of that holy Spirit of truth and Ministeriall power which Christ gave to the Apostles and they to their chief successors the Bishops by whose learned piety and industry such mighty works have been done in all ages and in all parts of the Church and in none more I think than in this Church of England chiefly since the Reformation of Religion whereto godly and learned Bishops contributed the greatest humane assistance by their preaching writing living and dying as became holy Martyrs Can. 6. Concil Nicaeni I am vehemently for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antient and holy customs of the Catholick Church 8. Primitive Customs how far alterable in the Churches Polity Consuetudo major non est veritate aut tatione Cyp. Ep. 73. Valeat consuetudo ubi non praevalet Scriptura aut ratio Reg. Jur. Praesracti est ingenii contra omnem consuetudinem disputare morosi nimis pertinaciter adhaerere so far as they may be fitted to the state and stature of any Christian societies Not that I think all things of external Polity discipline and government by which Christians stand tyed in relations publique to one another were at first so at once prescribed or perfected by Christ or the B. Apostles as might not admit after addition variations or completions in any Church or Congregation Christian according to those dictates of reason and generall rules of Prudence which are left to the liberty of Churches by which so to preserve particular Churches as not to offend the generall rules of order and charity which bind them by conformity in the main to take care of the Catholick Communion We are not I think tyed so strictly to all the precise paterns of primitive and Apostolicall practise which might well vary in the severall states conditions and dimensions of the Church I read no command for Presbyters to choose a Bishop or President among them and in so not doing they are defective not as to the Precepts of Scripture 1 Cor. 11.16 If any man lâ—st to be contentious we have no such Custom nor the Churches of Christ In his rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura mos populi dei vel instituta majorum pro lege tenenda sunt Aug. Ep. 89. ad Cal. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Or. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Or. 37. but to the rules of right reason and the imitation of usefull example in primitive times Nor do I find any Precept to one or more Presbyters to ordein others after them who yet ought to take care both of their own being rightly Ordeined and of after succession according to that patern Analogy and proportion of holy order and government which was at first wisely observed by the Apostles and the after Ministers of the Church either as Bishops or Presbyters The same Coat would not serve Christ a man grown which did fit him a Child or Youth Only it is neither safe comely nor comfortable for any Christians wantonly and without great and urging reasons next dore to necessity to recede from or to cast off the antient and most imitable Catholick customs of the Church which truly is seldom done upon conscientious and reall necessities pressing but most what upon factious humours and for secular designs carried on under the colour of Church alterations For how ever the alteration may at present please some mens activity and humour whose turn it serves yet it cannot but infinitely scandalise grieve and oppress far more and better Christians who are of the old yet good way Hence many wee see are at a loss now in England how to justifie their past religion shaken by changes as if they had had no true Ministry nor holy Ministrations and Sacraments hitherto while some mens zeal without knowledge cries down Bishops and that whole government with the Ministry for Antichristian others are extremely unsatisfied and solicitous for the future succession Not seeing any ground for any Presbyters in this Church so to challenge to themselves a sole divine power of Ordination and Jurisdiction without any President Bishops which was the antient way in England ever since we were Christians as in all other Churches And it is most sure that neither power of Ordination nor Jurisdiction was ever conferred by Bishops on any Presbyters here either verbally or intentionally as without and against Bishops Nor did the Laws or Canons ever so mean or speak Nor was it I believe in any of the Presbyters own thoughts that they received any such power to Ordein other Presbyters without a Bishop when they were Ordeined Ministers And sure though acts of state and civil Magistracy may regulate the exercise yet they cannot confer the holy power and order of a Presbyter or Bishop on any man which flows from a spiritual head even Jesus Christ as I have proved and not from any temporall Authority Ordinances of Parliament can hardly with justice or honour batter or dismount the Canons of generall Councils the Catholick laws or constant Customes of the Church If it be supposed that the two Houses of Parliament lately did but restore and the Presbyters resume that power of Ordination which was only due to them as such and deteined by Bishops usurpation from them Boâ—a consuetudo velut vinum generosum vetustate valescit Tert. It is very strange they should never here nor elsewhere have made claim to it for 1600. years in no ages past till these last broken factious tumultuary and military times If it were their right only in common with and subordinate to Bishops they needed not then to complain for they did or might have enjoyed as much joynt power as was for their conveniency and the Churches peace The eminent power at least for Order sake was even by their consents lawfully placed in and exercised by the Bishops The levity and ambition of ingrossing all to themselves without and against Bishops hath almost lost all power both of Bishops and Presbyters too since Presbytery alone is but as Pipe-staves full of cracks warpings and unevenness which will not easily hold the strong liquor of power and government unless they be well hooped about and handsomly kept in order by venerable and fatherly Episcopacy which carried a greater face of majesty and had those ampler and more august proportions which ought to be in government beyond what can be hoped for or in reason expected from the parity and puerility of Presbyters in common many of whom have more need to be governed than they are any way fit to bear any great weight of government on their shoulders however they may discharge some works of the Ministry very well 9. Calm mediations between Episcopacy and Presbytery As it hath never yet been shewen any where so it is least to be hoped for now in England that any better fruits should arise from Presbyterie thus beheaded cropped and curtayled of its crown Episcopacy which it might not stil have as formerly it
the Lord to the Church and set apart or Consecrated by the Church to the Lords speciall service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13. to serve the Lord and the Church in holy publick ministrations as the Apostles first did into whose order Mathias was by Lot chosen to supply the place of Judas Iscariot Acts 1. To which end Ministers in an holy Succession have ever been placed over the people in the name of Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit yet Good Ministers disdain not to be reckoned among Gods People as children of the same Spirituall Father and brethren in the same Family or houshold of Faith nor will any humble Christians being not in holy orders affect to be called Clergy men by a confusion of language or disdain to be called Gods commons or Lay-men which hath a sober Christian and charitable sense in the dialect of those Christians who know how to call and account their true Bishops and Ministers as Fathers Instructers Overseers and Guides of the Church c. These names then or distinctive titles do but fairly follow according to the use and nature of words and decently express those things which the mind of Christ in the Scripture and all Custom or use of the Church have distinguished for order sake De verbis contendere non est curare quomodo error veritate vincatur sed quomodo tua dictio alterius dictioni praeferatur Aust de doct Christ l. 4. c. 28. Quid est conteâ—tiosius quam ubi constâ—t dâ—re certare de nomine â—ust cp 1. 74. De verbis syllabis intemperantius litigare solent qui res ipsas Ecclesia pâ—cem negligunt Sub 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 umbra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suam occultâ—re dissimulare student quod et Arrianorum pertinaâ— astutiâ— olim fecit Amb. lib. de fide Jeron de Arrian Hyp. Insignis est indolis in verbis verum amare non verba Aust Sic vigeat humilitas ut non minuatur Autoritas Aust 1 Cor. 12.23 Error est bonestuâ— magnos in loquendo duces sequi Quintil. Orat. Inst l. 1. c. 6. The same supercriticall men will boggle at the words Trinity Three Persons and Sacraments which are not in the letter but in the sense and truth of the Scripture And certainly no religion forbids us to adopt convenient and compendious words to the Churches use since we do safely translate the whole originall Scriptures to any ordinary languages in which most Christians may best use them not in the literall words but in the Intellectuall sense or mind of God A strife about words and syllabicall scruples fits only women or children or peevish passionate men As the Arrians of old who caviled much at the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose syllables were new but their sense old orthodox and sound expressing the same divine Nature in Christ the Son with the Father and that our Emanuel who was born of the virgin Mary was both God and Man But this quarrel about names and words is a very tedious impertinency to those Christians whose serious piety studies only this by apt and usuall words to comprehend and express the truths and orders of Religion who are ready alwayes so to give to each other the right hand of Charity and Unity as members of the same body whose head is Christ as yet to preserve that order and authority in the Church which is divinely Instituted and is as necessary for the Church as it is for the body to have head eyes and mouth distinct from other parts of less honour yet not less usefull in their place As for this pretended grievance then of these words Clergy and Laity We desire not to quarrell farther with our Adversaries and we shall not need to dispute with others that are wise and humble only we pitty the simplicity of people who are thus easily cheated and scared by some sophistry when they are told by their great scrupulosity and censorian gravity that words are as bad as Spels that what ever tearms or Names are not in the Scriptures as they have them translated are not the speech of Canaan but the language of the beast Thus these severe Momusses Thus the Antiministeriall factors for error ignorance and confusion These are among the other small artifices used by those miserable Rabbyes who to ingratiate with the vulgar and lead dâ—sciples after them are content to take away the antient marks of bounds and known distinction of names between Minister and People that so people may take the greater confidence to cast quite away both the name and thing the holy Ordination with all distinction of Office and Function Ministeriall in the Church which if I can solidly maintain against these underminers of Religion despisers of Ordination and vastators of all true ministry I doubt not but I and others may still use these Names of Clergy and Laity without sin or scandall to any sober and good Christians To the main therefore of the Objection which is made against the vertue and efficacy of Ordination 16 Prophane minds prone to cavil at all holy mysteries aswel as the Ordination of Ministers 2 Pet. 3.4 by the Catholick and Antient way of Bishops and Presbyters which they so slight I answer That at the same rate of prophane and Atheisticall reasonings they may as well dispute as Julian would have done and those Scoffers daily do which are foretold should be in the later dayes What vertue is there in the water of Baptism more than any other by which to regenerate a sinner to wash away sins to seal comforts to confer grace to represent the blood of Christ of which a man may meditate every time he sees any water or washeth his hands Hence the mean esteem and contempt indeed with proud and presumptuous Catabaptists have against that holy Mysterie of Baptism which all Churches in all ages have used with reverence and comfort according to Christs Institution and the Apostolicall custome So also the spirituall pride of those prophane Cavillers will argue what efficacy can there be in the Bread and Wine at the Lords Supper more than in other of the same Elements at our ordinary Tables and in every Tavern What doth the form of Consecration by the words of Christ and prayers add to them or alter them Nay since the blasphemous boldness of proud and wicked men will count nothing of outward form sacred no wonder if by the same contradictive spirit they quarrel at not only the Humanity or flesh but also the Majesty and divinity of our Saviour Jesus Christ and seeing the outward meanness poverty and ingloriousness of his life and death many of them scarce own him for a Saviour or for the true Messias And no further than is agreeable to their Seraphick fancies Against whom Irenaus d sputes by which they labour after the like fondness of some in antient times to
novelties and extravagancies Which have nothing in them but a verminly nimblenesse and subtlety being bred out of the putrefactions of mens Brains and the corruptions of the times in matters of Religion and are rather pernicious than any way profitable in comparison of the more sober strength and usefulnesse of nobler creatures Nor is it by gracious persons disputed but that one serious Christian of the old stamp one able and faithfull Minister of the Church of England whom these so contemne and hate hath heretofore done and still doth more good and gives greater demonstrations of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him with wisdom gravity learning humility diligence peaceablenesse and charity by which many have been restrained or converted from sin or established and confirmed in the ways of God than whole heaps of these novel Teachers and swarms of Inspired pretenders who like drones do but seek to rob the hives and starve the Bees who serve in some fits to scratch itching ears to some tune of pleasure liberty profit novelty or preferment but not to teach the ignorant to settle the shaken to compose the tossed to heal the wounded or to wound the ulcerated Consciences of any men to any soundnesse of mind or true holinesse of manners Aedificantur in ruinam illuminantur in caciores tenebâ—as Their Proselytes are rather perverted than converted made theirs by a schismaticall and factious adherence rather than Christs by a fiduciary obedience or the Churches by a charitable and humble communion Faction and confusion and every evill work are the fruits of pertinacious and pragmatick ignorance as Vnion Peace and Charity are the genuine effects of sound knowledge and humble wisdome In which wayes onely true Christians have ever judged the highest gifts and graces of Christs Spirit to be both derived and decerned I am sure there is a vast difference between a wanton Fancy and a holy Spirit between a glib Tongue and a gracious Heart We may add to these discoveries of fallacious pretentions to the Spirits speciall motions Abominanda religionis ludibria colentia temporum rationes non leges Dei Naz or Lat. Hypocritarum pietas est temporum aucupium Cyp. That both in the first broaching and after drawings forth of their new projects and inventions the authors of them more look to men than to God how it may suit with secular aimes and politique interest private or publique than how it sorts with Gods Word or the rule of Christ or the Churches practise in purest times or its present distresses whose frame as to the main both for Doctrine Ministry and Government hath alwayes been the same both in times of persecution and of peace when favoured and disfavoured hy men And such it ever was in England and possibly it will be if it out-live this storm I am sure these Novelties so much opposing this Church and true Ministers in it would never have so quickned by any inward heat of Spirit if they did not presume that the Sun did shine warm on them which yet is no infallible sign of Gods blessing If these Antiministeriall adversaries these now so Inspired men who join in their plots and power and activity by which they either secretly undermine by evill speaking and separating from the publique Ministry or openly invade and arrogate the Office or wholly deride and oppose the Function if they expected nothing but Winter and persecution and such measure as they mete I believe it would damp their spirits very much They would then think it a part of prudence in a Christian Spirit to sleep in a whole skin by keeping themselves in that station wherein God and the Lawes both of Church and State have set them As they did very warily in those times when there was just power restraining them in those due bounds which then they thought became them best and they would no doubt have thought so still for all the fullnesse of their spirits and ebullition of their rarer gifts if strange indulgences in matters of Religion and Church Order had not tempted them to safe extravagancies and unpunished insolencies chiefly against the Church and Church men In other things of civill affairs where it is very likely their spirit prompts them as much to be medling because more is got by those activities they know how to keep their spirits in very good order being over-awed with evident danger attending any factious seditious or tumultuary motions None of these small spirited m n who are seldome little in their own eyes are powerfully moved to usurp any place in the Councell of State to arrogate the office and authority of an Embassadour or publique Agent to set himself in the Seat of Justice un commissioned or to intrude into any place Military or Civill without a Warrant from other than their own forward spirits though their pride and ambition * 2 Sam. 15.3 Nunquam defuit ambitioso praeclara sui ipsius opinio summa de seipso expectatio Sym. like Absaloms may fancy they could better dispatch businesse doe exacter Justice and speedier than any in Authority yet here the danger and penalty of intrusion cowes their zeal curbs their heady spirits and cuts their combes Nor are they often either so valiant or so fool hardy as to act by their pretended impulses in any way but where they think there may be safety which they now find as from many men in what ever they say or doe against the honour order and Ministry of this reformed Church of England which they see hath not many souldiers to defend it nor advocates to plead for it nor Patrons to protect it Wanton and petulant servants which were formerly but as the * Iob 30.1 Insolentioris animi propriâ— est calamitosam viriutem indigne tractare dicteriis appetere injuriis afficere de iis quae immerita patitur maxime exprobrare Plin. dogs of the flock will easily insult over the children of the family when they see them Orphanes and exposed to injuries either wanting true * Isa 49.23 Nursing Fathers and Mothers or these wanting that tendernesse toward them which is hardly to be expected in step-mothers and onely titular parents It is no adventure for timorous beasts to goe over where they find the fence trodden down and the gap made wide So much more prevalent with vain and proud men are the impressions of fear from men than those from God whose commands and threatnings are attended with Omnipotent Justice which is slow paced but sure Nor doe I doubt but those subtle and insolent enemies against this Reformed Church and the Ministry of it doe already * Prima est baec ultio quod se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur Iuv. Occultum quatienti animo tortore flagellum Id. find the first strokes of Divine Vengeance in their own ingratefull breasts The further triall of these pretenders to the Spirit I must leave to the impartiality of judicious Christians in that experience
be thus stripped and starved to gratifie the lusts of some men yet we hope for this mercy from God and favour from man that we shall not be forced to desert our calling or to contract a woe of not preaching the Gospell 1 Cor. 9.16 while we have abilities though we preach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though we have no publique incouragement For why should all our studies and time be made unprofitable It may be we shall by Gods help redeem our former defects by after diligence in the work of Christ we may happily work and war the better Verba vertas inopera nudam crucem nudus sequeres expeditior levior scandis scalam Jacobi Ieron Pauperesse non potest qui apud Deum dives est Lact. Inst l. 6. c. 12. when we are more expedite lighter armed and lesse incumbred with envy and worldly impediments We may I hope without presumption enjoy that liberty to preach the Gospel which others now take to prate against it and us and it may be people will hear and profit better when they see they have the Gospell at a cheaper rate and will be more in love with the reformed Religion when they shall see how much better penny-worth they have of that than of the Romish superstition which is more costly by farre yet lesse comfortable to a serious Christian Though we be made poore yet we may still make many rich though we have nothing yet we may enjoy all things though we are are troubled on every side 2 Cor. 6.10 yet we may not be distressed though perplexed yet not in despaire though persecuted by men yet not forsaken of God though cast down and cast out yet not destroyed through the grace of God which is sufficient for us Many worthy Ministers may justly plead for their liberties lives and livings as those did with Ishmael Ier. 41.8 Destroy us not for there are treasures of learning and saving knowledge with us But it is better for them to be Christs Lazarusses and beggars than the worlds rich gluttons and favorites Yet it must needs be so Revel 12 7. and so it will be unlesse some Michael and his Angels overcome this greedy Apollyon this sacrilegious Abaddon this penurious Divell and his Angels who prodigally offers Kingdomes to damne one soule but grudgeth one groat to redeem many thousands 18. Ministers just plea for their own neither covetous nor uncomely Nor will your noblenesse O excellent Christians interpret this which I have wrote in behalf of the maintenance of Ministers in this Church and Nation to be any pleading for Baal or clamouring like Demetrius and his complices in his panick feares for his silver shrines and his Diana where he considered more his gain than his Goddesse These are unjust and malicious glosses which the enemies both of the Ministry and of humanity * Act. 19.25 are prone to put upon any that plead nevâ—r so righteous a cause with words of the greatest truth justice sobernesse and moderation those having a stinking breath themselves think every mans unsavoury But by the leave of such latrant Orators and back-biters I must tell them what the wiser and more Christian world well knows that there is no cause why Ministers more than any other order of men should neglect in fair and just wayes to obtain for or preserve to themselves and their successours those worldly comforts and supports which the providence of God and the Christian munificence of this Nation hath in the most free way of gift and by Law granted to them in Gods name and for the service of Christ and the honour of Religion Other men are commended for their good husbandry and honest care to preserve their just estates which tend not so much to the publique good as the labours of Ministers doe who may not in prudence or conscience neglect those great and publique concernments of Christ and his Church with which they are intrusted Yea if they should have an eye to the reward to their own just right and particular interests which all other we see still have yet it were no more than Law and Reason all humanity and Christianity allow 1 Tim. 5 8. unlesse they would be worse than those Infidels that provide not for their own families or be as bad as those men who to provide for themselves and their families care not to rob and desolate even the Church and family of Christ Ministers may be wise yet innocent provident yet not sordid diligent in things honest yet not injurious to others Nor is it any whit uncomely for them to crave this justice or favour from any in power That they may quietly injoy those publique rewards of their learning and labours which are injurious to no man merited in the esteem of all honest men and therefore offensive to none but envious eyes and evill mindes Being the fruit of the publique bounty wisdome gratitude and devotion of this Christian Nation to God to Christ and his Ministers what they have a long time by law injoyed what they are rightly possessed of and what they have no way forfeited unlesse other mens calumnies and cavils their covetous projects and desires of novelty be the crime and fault of Ministers And lastly they doe intend with all peaceablenesse thankefulnesse and usefulnesse to use and enjoy if God and man permit so that no man shall have cause to repine at their enjoyments who knowes how to make use of their gifts and labours The shame of pleading this cause of Ministers maintenance lies at their dore who meditate speak and act so vile and dishonest things against them as force them thus to vindicate their just rights against unjust projects which seek by falshood and violence to take away not only the childrens but the fathers bread too and to give it to dogs who alwayes have sought to bring this reproach and scandall on this and other reformed Churches that they still carry on and serve some covetous and sacrilegious design with their reformations When God knowes it is not the design nor desire of any that are truly reformed Christians to robb the Church and Churchmen of one shoelatchet but rather to have added necessary augmentations to them if they had not alwayes been hindered by the covetousnesse and envy of some crosse faction who have longed to see the day when with Rabshakehs unclean spirit and foul language Isai 36.12 they might see all the reformed Clergy reduced to those sordid necessities which I have as much shame to write as these Antiministeriall sticklers have pleasure to wish it and glory to speak it Our comfort in the worst of times and things is 19. True Ministers comfort Multa quidem mala sed varia sclatia Sal. l. 9. That we know in whom we have trusted not in these Egyptian reeds which may faile us and pierce us but in the living God whom we have served though with many frailties yet with
the substance of them nor any lessening of Christs right to them And for this I have produced not weak opinions not light conjectures not partiall customes not bare prepossession 3. A summary of what makes for the function of the Ministry not uncertain tradition not blind antiquity not meer crowds or numbers of men much lesse do I solemnly alledge my own specious fancies devout dreams uncertain guessings Seraphick dictates and magisteriall Enthusiasms But 1. evident grounds out of the Word of God for a divine Ordination and institution at first 2. Scripture history for succession to four generations actually 3. Promises and precepts for perpetuity of power Ministeriall and assistance which was derived by the solemn ceremony of the imposition of hands by such only as had been ordained and so enabled with successionall power till the coming of Christ 4. This primitive root and divine plantation of the Ministeriall office and power we finde oft confirmed by miraculous gifts besides the innocency humility simplicity piety and charity of those Apostles primitive Bishops and Presbyters set forth in the holinesse of their lives and the glorious successes of their Ministeriall labours converting thousands by preaching the Gospell and by their Ministeriall power and authority planting Churches in all the then known and reputed world oft crowning their doctrines and Ministry with Martyrdome 5. After this I produce what is undenyably alleadged from authours of the best credit learned and godly men famous in the Church through all the first ages shewing the Catholick and uncontradicted consent the constant and uninterrupted succession by Bishops and Presbyters in every City and Countrey which all Christians in every true Church owned received and reverenced as men indued with such order and power Ministeriall as was divine supernaturall and sacred as from Christ and in his Name though by man as the means and conduit of it This is made good to our dayes in the persons and office of those Ministers who were and are duely ordained in this Church 6. Next I plead with the like evident and undenyable demonstrations the great abilities in all sorts of ministeriall gifts the use and advancement of all good learning the vindicating of true Christian and reformed religion the manifold discoveries of sound judgement discreet zeal holy industry blamelesse constancy and all other graces wherein the Ministers of England have not been inferiour to the best and most famous in any reformed Christian Church and incomparably beyond any of their defamatory adversaries 7. I add to these as credentiall Letters the testimonies and seales which God hath given of his grace and holy Spirit accompanying the Ministry in England upon the hearts of many thousands both before and eminently since the Reformation by which men have been converted to and confirmed in Faith Repentance Charity and holy life the tryall of which is most evident in that patience and constancy which many Ministers as other Christians in this Church have oft shewen in the sufferings which they have chosen rather then they would sin agaist their Conscience and that duty which they owed to God and man 8. Last of all if any humane consideration may hope for place in the neglect of so many divine the civill rights and priviledges which the piety of this Nation and the Laws of this Land have alwayes given to Ministers of the Gospell by the fullest and freest consent of all Estates in Parliament that they might never want able Ministers nor these all fitting support and incouragements These I say ought so far to be regarded by men of justice honour and conscience as not suddenly to break all those sacred sanctions and laws asunder by which their forefathers have bound them to God to his Church and Ministers for the perpetuall preservation of the true Christian Religion among them and their posterity Furthermore 4. The fruits of Ministers labours in England if the godly Ministers of this Church of England whom some men destine to as certain destruction and extirpation as ever the Agagite did the Jews if they be the messengers of the most high God the Prophets of the Lord the Evangelicall Priests those by whom Salvation hath been brought and continued to this part of the world If they have like the good Vine and Figtree been serviceable to God and man to Church and State If they have laboured more aboundantly and been blessed more remarkably than any other under heaven If they have preached sound doctrine in season and out of season if they have given full proof of their Ministry not handling the Word of God deceitfully nor defrauding the Church of any Truth of God or divine Ordinance If many of them have fought a good fight and finished their course with joy and great successe against sin errour superstition and profanenesse If they have snatched many firebrands out of hell pulled many souls out of the snares of the divell If they have fasted and mourned and watched and prayed and studyed and taught and lived to the honour of the Gospell and the good of many soules If they have like Davids Worthies stood in the gap against those Anakims and Zanzummins who by lying wonders learned sophistries and accurate policies have to this day from the first reformation and coming out of Egypt sought to bring us thither again or else to destroy the very name of Protestants and reformed Religion from under heaven If almost all good Christians and not a few of these renegadoes their ungratefull enemies doe owe in respect of knowledge or grace to the Ministers of England as Philemon to St. Paul even their very selves If they have oft in secret wept over this sinfull Nation and wantonly wicked people as Christ did over Jerusalem and as Noah Daniel and Job oft stood in the gap to turne away the wrath of God from this self-destroying Nation If now they have no other thoughts or practises but such as become the truth and peace of that Gospell which they preach and that blessed example which Christ hath set them whom in all things they desire to imitate in serving God edifying the Church doing good to all men praying for their enemies and paying all civill respects which they owe to any men If all true and faithfull Ministers have done and designe onely to doe many great and good works in this Church and Nation for which of these is it that some men seek and others with silence suffer them to be stoned as the Jews threatned Christ and the inconstant Lystrians acted on St. Paul who after miracles wrought by him among them and high applauses of him from them was after dragged as a dead dog out of their City by them Act. 14.19 supposing him to be dead If all true and worthy Ministers being conscious to their own Integrity a midst their common infirmities after their escaping the late stormes in which many perished are easily able without any disorder to them to shake off those