Jesus Christ and confirmed by the Word of God they went forth preaching that the kingdome of God was coming Preaching then through Countries and Cities they constituted the first-fruits of them overseers and ministers of those that should beleeve This he thus prosecutes p. 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And our Apostles knew by our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife about the name of Bishop And for that cause perfectly foreknowing it they constituted the aforesaid and gave order for the future that when they should fall asleep other approved persons should succeed into their Ministery Those therefore that were constituted by them or afterwards by other approved persons we conceive to be unjustly put out of their Ministery The sense of these words is some what obscure by reason of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth here afterwards as in Acts XIII 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gentiles besought that these things might be spoken to them the Sabbath after And so Cappellus de Dieu upon that Text of the Acts have observed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in the same signification by Iosephus But here the case is plain that it cannot be otherwise understood because of that which follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which must needs be those that were made afterwards Now the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far as I can learn is no where read in all the Greek tongue but here so that we must take the signification either from the originall or from the consequence of the discourse The originall bears the sense which I conceive in translating it an Order well enough being the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the consequence of the Discourse necessarily requires it For what reason doth he expresse why those whom he speaks of should be thought unjustly removed but because the Apostles had appointed that those whom they constituted should be succeeded by others I grant that he allegeth other considerations aggravating the fault of the Corinthians in putting out their Governours that is their Bishop and Presbyters for one or two of the Presbyters But he hath said nothing by all this which I have here produced unlesse we grant that it was not in their power to doe it meerly in this consideration because they succeeded such as were constituted by the Apostles For the Apostles had done nothing in appointing that others should succeed them whom they constituted if this succession could be voided by any Power but that which appointed it From the distinction advanced p. 276. between those things that are commanded every Christian and those things that are commanded the Body of the Church perhaps a resolution may be deduced what is absolutely necessary to salvation and what not And also what is absolutely necessary to salvation to be known and what not The Book de Cive maintains this Position that there is but one Article of the Faith necessary to salvation which is that our Lord Jesus is the Messias But the sufficience of it is further declared to imply the receiving of Christ for a Doctor sent by God in all things without exception to be beleeved and obeyed which manifestly infers the profession of all Christianity and the sincerity of the same And upon these terms I see no reason how to deny that upon this condition the thief upon the Crosse is promised life everlasting and the Eunuch of Aethiopia admitted to Baptism that is to remission of sins and the title to life everlasting According to that which is said here p. 16. that in danger of death or when there appeared an ardent zeal to Christianity men were admitted to Baptism without regular triall to wit upon the free and zealous profession of Christianity So Philip is ordered by the Spirit to give Baptism on the like terms as the Church used to doe But this makes no alteration in the necessity of those things that are to be known and undertook by those that regularly come to Baptism which continue no lesse necessary to salvation though the obligation of knowing and acknowledging them cannot take place either at all in them that die immediately or in them that are thus baptized before their Baptism It may then with a great deal of reason be said that all that and onely that which is contained in the Covenant of Baptism is necessary to salvation among which is the Unity of the Church and the obligation of every Christian to contribute towards the preservation of it But otherwise what this Covenant containeth this is not the place to dispute Some of the particulars remembred p. 289. that are in the Scriptures and yet oblige not the Church deserve to be considered more at large That the Apostle speaks not barely of the Sacrament of the Eucharist 1 Cor. XI but of the celebration thereof at their Feasts of Love beside that which hath been said upon divers occasions in this Discourse appears further by this Glosse which I finde in the written Copy lately alleged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lords Supper saith he is to dine in the Church Whereby it may appear that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is properly called the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but not properly the Supper of the Lord. There is nothing can be propounded in a more expresse form of Precept then the decree of forbearing things sacrificed to Idols by the Councell at Jerusalem And yet it is manifest that it was but locall For if it had obliged the Church of Rome S. Paul could not have given them another Rule not to condemne one another Jews and Gentiles for eating or not eating For that this case is comprised within that Rule it appeareth because S. Paul is afraid that Jewish Christians should fall away from Christianity as enjoyning to renounce the Law and by consequence the Author of it which was manifestly the scandall of those at Ierusalem But if it had obliged the Church of Corinth much lesse could S. Paul have given leave to eate things sacrificed to Idols materially as Gods creatures which you have seen that he doth That under the Apostles Baptism was drenching of all the body under water appears by S. Pauls Discourse Rom. VI. 3 4 5. for how should the death and Resurrection of our Lord Christ be represented by Baptism otherwise And so the exception that is taken against the Baptism of Novatianus is that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eusebius Eccles Hist VI. 43. Had water poured about him in bed because of his sicknesse So the solemnity of drenching was due though I shewed afore that the substance of the exception is grounded upon the weaknesse of his resolution to Christianity who would not undertake to professe it while persecution appeared For if that had not been the solemnity would not have been avoided The Vail of women in the Church which the Apostle requires 1 Cor. XI that it was to cover their faces though laid upon the head I
they found most proper for their assistance it is manifest that they could have no authority but derived from the Apostles A thing perfectly agreeing with the Custome that had always been among Gods People For all Prophets whom God imploied upon his messages and may therefore properly be called his Apostles as our Lord Christ is called the Apostle of our Profession Heb. III. 1 had their Disciples to wait upon them which is called ministring to them in the language of the Scripture Thus Joshua the Minister of Moses Exod. XXIV 13. Elizeus poured water on the hands of Elias as the Chief of his Scholars that expected a double portion of his spirit 2 Reg. II. 9. III. 11. Thus the Baptist saith he is not worthy to loose or take away our Saviours shooes Mat. III. 11. Mar. I. 7. that is to be his Disciple for by Maimoni in the Title of learning the Law cap. V. we learn that the Disciples of the Jews Doctors were to do that service for their Masters Hereupon saith Christ Luc. XXII 26. I am among you as he that ministreth to wit not as a Master but as a Disciple Thus the chief of our Lords Disciples whom he had chosen from the beginning to be with him receiving his Commission became his Apostles having waited on his Person and by familiar conversation learned his doctrine better then others Whereupon I said in the Primitive Government of Churches p. 3. that to make an Apostle it was requisite to have seen our Lord in the flesh and that he appeared to S. Paul after death to advance him to that rank by this privilege Mar. III. 14. Mat. X. 1 4. And shall we think that the Apostles did not as their Lord and all the Prophets before him had done choose themselves Scholars that by waiting on them might learn their Doctrine and become fit to be imploied under them and after them If we do we shall mis-kenne the most remarkable circumstances of Scripture For we may easily observe that those who are called in the Scriptures Euangelists are such as first waited upon the Apostles as S. Mark upon S. Peter Timothy and S. Luke upon S. Paul Acts XVI 1. XIX 22. as Mark upon Paul and Barnabas Acts XIII 5. and Mark again whether the same or another upon S. Paul 2 Tim. IV. 11. And therefore I easily grant both Timothy and Titus to have been Euangelists though the Scripture says it but of one 2 Tim. IV. 5. because I see them both Companions of S. Paul that is his Scholars and Ministers And therefore find it very reasonable that he should imploy Titus into Dalmatia to Preach the Gospel in those parts where himself had left hoping to goe further and carry it beyond into Illyricum whereof Dalmatia was a part as you may see by comparing the Scriptures 2 Tim. IV. 10. Rom. XV. 19. 2 Cor. X 16. Tit. III. 12. For thus also of the seven Ministers to the Apostles at Jerusalem you see Steven and Philip imploied in Preaching the Gospel and this later called therefore expresly an Euangelist Acts VI. 9. VIII 5 12. XXI 8. And therefore it is not possible for any man out of the Scriptures to distinguish between the Office of Euangelists and those whom I shewed to have been Apostles of the Apostles And thereby the conclusion remains firm that all Ecclesiasticall Power at that time remained and for future times is to be derived from the Apostles when we see by the Scriptures that the Euangelists derived their Office and Authority from their appointment And indeed how can common sense indure to apprehend it otherwise especially admitting that which hath been discoursed of the Power of the Keys in admitting into the Church That being made Christians by the Apostles because by them convinced to beleeve that they were Gods Messengers whom they stood bound to obey should neverthelesse by being Christains obtain the Power of regulating and concluding the Apostles themselves in matters concerning the Community of the Church which what it meant or that such a Society should be they could not so much as imagine but by them is a thing no common sense can admit without prejudice Those that purchase dominion by lawfull Conquest in the world become thereby able to dispose of all their Subjects have because they give them their lives that is themselves The Church is a People subdued to Christ by the Apostles not by force but by the sword of the Spirit and though to freedome yet that freedome consists in the state of particular Christians towards God not in the publique Power of the Church otherwise then it is conveyed lawfully from them that had it before the Church Indeed visible Christianity is a condition requisite to make a man capable of Ecclesiasticall Power and the Church is then in best estate when that legall presumption of invisible Christianity is most reasonable But if Saints because Saints have Power and Right to govern the Church then follows the Position imposed on Wicleffe and Husse in the Councell of Constance and condemned by all Christians that Ecclesiasticall Power holds and fails with Grace which will not fail to draw after it the like consequence in Secular matters pernicious to all Civile Societies that the interesse of honest men is the interesse of Kingdomes and States contradicting the principle laid down at the beginning that Christianity calls no man to any advantage of this world but to the Crosse Therefore no Christian or Saint as Saint or Christian hath any Right or Power in the Church but that which can be lawfully derived from the Order of the Apostles Those of the Congregations use to allege S. Peters apology to the Jewish Christians for conversing with Cornelius and his Company Acts XI 9. as also that of S. Paul Col. IV. 17. speaking to the body of the Church at Colossae Say to Archippus look to the Ministery which thou hast received to fulfill it as if S. Peter or Archippus must be afraid of Excommunication if they render not a good account of their actions to the People By which it may appear how truly I have said that the Power they give the People is in check to that Power which was exercised by the Apostles But if we reason not amisse it would be a great prejudice to Christianity that S. Peter could not inform Christian People of the reason of his doings which they understood not but he must make them his Soveraign Or that S. Paul conveying his commands to Archippus by an Epistle directed to the whole Church should be thought to invest the People in that Power by which he commands Archippus They allege also the People of the Church of Jerusalem present at the Councell there and joyned in the letter by which the decree is signified and conveyed to the Churches of Syria and Cilicia Acts XV. 4 12 23. But of this I have spoken already and am very willing to leave all men to judge by the premises whether
to come within the age of men then living perhaps at the fall of Jerusalem as the Apostles also imagined when they asked our Lord when the destruction of Jerusalem should be and what the signs of his comming and the end of the world Mat. XXV 3. to prevent the ill consequences of this opinion S. Paul having the truth further revealed tels them this must not be till a departure come first and the man of sin the son of perdition be revealed that opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or worshipped so as to seat himself in the Temple of God declaring himself to be God Which can be truly said of none but the Romane Emperours who did indeed exalt themselves above all called God that is all their imaginary idol Gods in that they took upon them to make Gods whom they would and were themselves worshipped with divine honours so much more devoutly as they were able to doe more good or harm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here as 1 Cor. VIII 5. a term of abatement signifying those that are called Gods and are not in which sense onely the Apostle could say there be Gods many and Lords many For it is a mistake to think that Princes are called Gods in Scripture as I have shewed afore Now the Religion of the Gentiles was this that when the Statue of a God was seated in a Temple built to him thenceforth they thought his Deity dwelt in it and the Temple thereby consecrated In which sense S. Paul speaking of the succession of Romane Emperours as of one person as Dantel S. John use to call the body of Chaldean Persian Grecian or Romane Emperours a Beast saith that he should exalt himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as to seat himself in the Temple of God Which as it may be understood of any of them who had all Temples built them and their Statues placed in those Temples as the Deities of the same so it may be particularly understood of Caligula who would have placed his Statue in the Temple of the true God at Jerusalem though we suppose the Epistle written long after his death And so that insoluble difficulty ceases which Grotius his exposition of this passage suffers to wit that this second Epistle to the Thessalonians must be written before the death of Caligula which no man can easily beleeve there being between the Baptism of our Lord upon the XV of Tiberius according to the Gospel and the death of Caligula but a matter of XI years whatsoever passed between the Baptism of Christ and his death and between the death of Caligula and the writing of this Epistle This is then the first of the two Beasts that S. Iohn sees in the thirteenth of his Revelations blaspheming God and persecuting his Church even the succession of the Romane Emperours The second is the same whereof S. Paul prophesies in the next words 2 Thess II. 8 9. representing in one person as before the Succession of the Romane Emperours so now the Succession of Magicians and Heathen Philosophers the Priests and the Divines whom Satan imploied to disguise interpret and maintain Heathenism in opposition to Christianity Simon Magus may well be reckoned inprimis of the list together with much of the fry of his Gnosticks who though wearing the name of Christians yet practising manifest Idolatries with their Magick occasioned the persecution of true Christianity by compounding a false out of it and Heathenism But Apollonius Tyaneus must needs be accounted of this Body who did many strange things in S. Iohns time to support Heathenism and was therefore by the Pagans opposed to our Lord Christ as you may see by Vopiscus in the life of Tacitus and Hieracles his Book to that purpose refuted by Eusebius After him came all those Pythagorean or Platonick Philosophers who after S. Iohns time as they were the maintainers of Heathenism against Christianity were doubtlesse also Magicians as their Father Pythagoras seems to have been by his travels in the East and many passages of his life Such were Apuleius Plotinus Porphyry Iamblichus Maximus and with such the Histories shew that the persecuting Emperours Maxentius Maximiane Licinius and Julian conversed Who both by learned writings and by strange works done by familiarity with unclean spirits laboured to support the credit of their Idols Two instances I must not conceal in this place the one recorded by Dionysius Alexandrinus in an Epistle to Hermammron produced by Eusebius Eccles Hist VII 10. where he relateth of Valeriane how he cherished the Christians at the first insomuch that his Court was a kinde of Church Unto which he addeth as followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now he that perswaded him to be rid of them was his Doctor the Ruler of the Synagogue of Aegyptian Magicians Who commanded the pure to be slain and persecuted as opposites and hinderers of their abominable and detestable inchantments which he proceeds to declare what they were and how they became of no effect wheresoever the Christians came And perhaps if we had the Epistle at length it would appear that Dionysius had interpreted the Beast and the false Prophet as I doe For the words which Eusebius quotes begin thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accordingly saith he is revelation made to S. John For he saith and there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy and it was granted him to continue two and forty moneths Proceeding to that which I reported afore of Valeriane in these terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We may well marvell at both in Valeriane and especially we may consider how he stood affected before him that is before the Magician whom he spoke of had accesse to him how gentle and kinde he was to the men of God For when he saith that Saint Johns Revelations were according to what he there relates he seems to make Valeriane the Beast the Magician the false Prophet whom he speaks of afterwards The other is out of an Edict of Constantine reported by Eusebius De Vitâ Constant II. 49 50. where the great Emperour declares to all the Empire that Apollo that gave answers at Delphi having answered out of the dark cave there that the just upon earth hindred him from speaking truth and that was the reason why his Oracles proved false Diocletian hereupon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being deceived in the errour of his soule curiously inquired of those about him who were the just upon the earth And one of the Priests about him answered the Christians But he swallowing the answer like honey drew those swords that were found out against injustice against blamelesse piety And this he professes afore God that he heard himself being then a youth in the Emperours presence By these two particulars we may make an estimate how the rest of the Persecutions were moved and therefore that the Body of these Philosophers and Magicians the Priests and Interpreters of Heathenism is called in the Revelution the