the Divine Ministeries shewing his madness even on that which hath no sense such an one is truly sensless and shall be obnoxious to the Lex Talionis and his work shall fall upon his own head as being a transgressor of God's Law For the chief Apostle Peter commanded Feed the Flock of God overseeing it not by force but freely and voluntarily according to God not for filthy lucre sake but readily and chearfully not as having a dominion â—ver the Clergy but as being examples to the Flock The 15th Canon forbids one Man to have two Churches The 22d Canon forbids Canting and Minstrels and Ribald Songs at meat But the 7th savors of their Superstition forbidding any Temple to be Consecrated without Reliques and ordering Temples that have no Reliques to be put down § 78. In the Letter to Adrian Tharasius tells him that he had a year before attempted the like at Const. but was hindered a whole year by violent Men which further sheweth how far the opposition to Images had obtained when Irene began to set them up § 79. So much of the 2d Nicene Council in which by the power of one Woman and Stauratius a Senator that ruled her the judgment of the Universal Church if the Council or most of the Bishops in the Empire signifie it was suddenly changed from what it had been during the Reign of the three last Emperors and made that Church-use of Images which some thought sinful and no judicious Christian could judge necessary but indifferent and of use to some to be henceforth so necessary that the Denyers are sentenced for cursed Hereticks yea the Doubters cut off from Christ. § 80. CCXXXIII Binnius next addeth a Council at Forojulium An. 791. held by Paulinus Bishop of Aquileia in which is a Speech of his to the Bishops and an excellent Creed and 14 Canons written as by himself all in a far more understanding sober pious manner than is usual among the Patriarchs at General Councils The 13th Canon is an excellent Precept for the holy observation of the Lord's-day wholly in Holiness and in Hymns of Praise to the Holy Ghost that blessed it by his admirable Advent calling it God's Sabbath of delight beginning the 7th day evening not for the honour of the 7th day but of this Sabbath c. § 81. Yet rash and unskilful words set the Bishops into more divisions Faelix Urgelitanus and from him Elipandus Bishop of Toletum taught that Christ as the eternal Word was God's Natural Son but that as Man he was his Adopted Son Hence his Adversaries gathered that he was a Nestorian and held two Sons A Council An. 792. at Ratisbonne was called to condemn this Heresie Yea Ionas Bishop of Orleance saith That it infected Spain for a great part and he knew their Followers to be certain Antichrists by their faces and habits But wise Men think that the Controversie was not de re but de nomine And that if one Christ be said to be one Son of God in two natures by a twofold fundamentum of the Relation of a Son and that the foundation of the eternal Relation was the eternal Generation and the foundation of the temporal Relation in the Humanity was the temporal Generation and Union with the Deity yet this proveth not two Sons yea or if it had been said that two Generations being the fundamenta two Relations of Sonship result from them If this be unskilfully and illogically spoken it will not follow that the Speakers held two Persons or made any more division of Christs natures than their Adversaries did but only might think that a double filiation from a double fundamentum might be found in one Person Let this Opinion be wrong I see not how the Hereticators could make it a damnable Heresie But it 's pity that Faelix had not taken warning by the Churches long and sad experience to avoid such wordy occasions of Contention and not to set again on work either the Heretical or the Hereticating Evil Spirit § 82. Claudius Taurinensis a great and worthy Bishop at this time did set in against the Worship and Church-use of Images against whom Ionas Aurelianensis wrote whose Writings are in the Biblioth Patrum by Marg. de la Bigne Read them and judge as you see cause § 83. About the time of the Frankford Council came out a Book-against Images which is published as written by Carolus Magnus himself A great Controversie it is Who is the Author No small number say it was Charles his own indeed Others that it was written at his Will and Command But Binnius and some others deny it and say it was written by Serenus Massiliensis an Iconoclast and his Disciples How we shall know the Truth in such Cases I cannot tell But it is confessed that Spain and France were then much infected with the Doctrine which is against Church-Images It is certain that Pope Adrian saith that Carolus Mag. sent him such a Book by Engilbert an Abbot and his Epistle against it is extant § 84. CCXXXIV We come now to a great Council at Frankford called by Charles Mag. present and by Adrian And as late as it is all the Historians cannot tell us whether it was Universal or what they did Some say it was a General Council because Charles summon'd it as such and 300 Bishops were there Others say No it was but Provincial because none of the Bishops of the East were there a sufficient reason and the like may be brought to prove that there never was a General Council in the World so called from the whole World but only from the whole Empire That they dealt with the Case of Elipandus Bishop of Toletum and Faelix Urgel is agreed on but what they did about Images is not agreed on Ado Rhegino Aimonius Urspurg and many Historians say They condemned the Nicene Council that was for Images Even Baronius is of the same mind thinking the Liber Carolinus deceived them He proveth this to be the common judgment of Historians and ancient Writers Bellarmine his Brother is of the same judgment And is not their Concession more than twenty later Mens denial Yea Genebrard concurreth yet Binnius leaveth his Master Baronius and giveth his Reasons against them And he doth well prove that it could not be by ignorance and surprize that the Frankford Council should condemn the Nicene and he is loth to think that they were wilful Hereticks especially when they profess to follow Tradition But he knew that the 7th Constantin Council against Images profest to follow Tradition And if French Men will make us Hereticks for speaking English it is no wonder if we make them Hereticks for speaking French If Men will Hereticate others for Images or Ceremonies or Words others will measure the like to them This kind of Hereticating is circular and hath no end Suarez will have either the Historians to have erred or their Books to be corrupted with what
such Orders as were to continue to the end and none that came after them might change they being the Ordinances of the Holy Ghost in them 2. Temporarily pro re natâ to make convenient mutable Constitutions in matters left by the great Legislator to humane prudence to be determined according to his general regulating Laws In this last the Apostles have Successors but not in the former No other have their Gift and therefore not their Authority No men can be said to have an Office that giveth them Right to exercise abilities which they never had nor shall have § 4. Christ summed up all the Law in LOVE to God and Man and the works of Love and all the Gospel in Faith and Hope and Love by them kindled and exercised by the Spirit which he giveth them even by the Belief and Trust of his Merits Sacrifice Intercession and Promises and the prospect of the future Glory promised fortifying us to all holy duties of obedience and diligent seeking what he hath promised and to patient bearing of the Cross conquering the inordinate love of the world and flesh and present life and improving all our present sufferings and preparing for his coming again and for our change and entrance into our Masters joy § 5. Christ summed up the Essentials of Christianity in the Baptismal Covenant in which we give up our selves in Faith Hope and consenting Love to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost our Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier and in which God receiveth us in the Correlations as his own And all that are truly thus baptized are Christened and are to be esteemed and loved as Christians and to be received into Christian Communion in all Christian Churches where they come until by apostasie or impenitency in certain disobedience to the Laws of Christ in points necessary to Christian Communion they forfeit that priviledge Nor are men to deprive them of the great benefit thus given them by Christ on pretence of any wit or holiness or power to amend Christs terms and make the Church Doors narrower or tie men to themselves for worldly ends Yet must the Pastors still difference the weaker Christians from the stronger and labour to edifie the weak but not to cast them out of the Church § 6. The sacred Ministry is subordinate to Christ in his Teaching Governing and Priestly Office and thus essentiated by Christs own institution which man hath no power to change Therefore under Christ they must teach the Church by sacred Doctrine guide them by that and sacred Discipline called The power of the Keys that is of judging who is fit to enter by Baptism to continue to partake of the Communion to be suspended or cast out and to lead them in the publick Worship of God interceding in Prayer and speaking for them and administring to them the Sacraments or holy Seals of the Covenant of God § 7. The first part of the Ministers Oâ—â—ice is about the unbelieving world to convert them to the Faith of Christ and the second perfective part about the Churches Nor must it be thought that the first is done by them as meer private men § 8. As Satan fell by pride and overthrew man by tempting him to pride to become as Gods in Knowledge so Christ himself was to conquer the Prince of pride by humility and by the Cross by a life of suffering contemned by the blind and obstinate world making himself of no reputation despising the shame of suffering as a Malefactor a Traitor and Blasphemer And the bearing of the Cross was a principal part of his Precepts and Covenant to his Disciples without which they could not be his Followers And by Humility they were to follow the Captain of their Salvation in conquering the Prince of pride and in treading down the Enemie-world even the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and pride of life which are not of the Father but of the world § 9. Accordingly Christ taught his chief Disciples that if they were not so converted as to become as little children they could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18. 3. His School receiveth not masterly Disciples but humble teachable Learners that become fools that they may be wise And when they were disputing and seeking which of them should be greatest he earnestly rebuked all such thoughts setting a little child before them telling them that the Princes of the Earth exercise authority and are called Benefactors or by big Names but with them it should not be so but he that would be the greatest must be servant ofâ— all Luk. 22. shewing them that it was not a worldly grandeur nor forcing power by the Sword which belongeth to Civil Magistrates which was to be exercised by the Pastors of the Church But that he that would be the Chiefest must be most excellent in Merit and most serviceable to all and get his honour and do his work by meriting the respect and love of Volunteers The Sword is the Magistrates who are also Christs Ministers for all Power is given him and he is Head over all things to the Church But they are eminently the Ministers of his Power but the Pastors and Teachers are most eminently Ministers of his Paternal and saving love and wisdom And by wisdom and love to do their work The Word preached and applied generally and particularly by the Keys is their Weapon or Arms and not the Sword The Bohemians therefore knew what they said when they seemed damnable Hereticks to the worldly Clergie that destroyed them when they placed their Cause in these four Articles 1. To have the whole Sacrament Bread and Wine 2. To have free leave for true Ministers to preach the word of God without unjust silencing of proud worldly men that cannot stand before the truth 3. To have Temporal Dominion or Government by the Sword and power over mens Bodies and Estates taken from the Clergie 4. To have gross sin suppressed by the lawful Magistrate by the Sword § 10. Had it been necessary to the Churches Union against Schism or Heresie for Christians to know that Peter or some one of his Apostles must be his Vicar-General and Head of his Church to whom all must obey who can believe that Christ would not only have silenced so necessary a point but also at a time when he was desired or called to decide it have only spoken so much against it to take down all such Expectations Yea we never read that Peter exercised any Authority or Jurisdictions over any other of the Apostles nor more than other Apostles did much less that ever he chose a Bishop to be Lord of the Church as his Successor Nay he himself seemeth to fore-see this mischief and therefore saith 1. Pet. 5. 1 2 3. The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder and a Witness of the Sufferings of Christ and also a Partaker of the Glory that shall be revealed These are his Dignities
and here also had too much success X. And it must be remembred that God hath made use of many proud and turbulent men to propogate and defend the truth of the Gospel And their Gifts have served for the good of the sincere As the husk or chaff and straw is useful to the Corn so many worldly Prelates and Priests have been learned Expositors and useful Preachers and taught others the way to life which they would not go in themselves Besides that their very Papal power and grandure which hath corrupted the Church hath yet been a check to some that would have assaulted it by force and as a hedge of thornes about it Worldly interest engageth Pope Patriarchs and Prelates to stand up for the Christian Religion because they gain by it as Leo the 10th is said to have odiously confessed § 42. And the old Fathers till Constantines time did most of them think that the last thousand years would be a time of fuller glory to the Church as many yet think though I confess my self unskilful in the Prophesies But I make no doubt but though this earth be so far deâ—erted by God the Glorious Kingdom which we shall shortly see with the new Heaven and Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness will fully confute all our present temptations to think hardly of God or the Redeemer because of the present corruptions and dissentions of this lower world § 43. We may conjecture at former times by our own We see now that among the most Reformed Churches too often the most worldly part are uppermost and perhaps are the persecuters of the rest and though they may be the smaller part it 's they that make the noise are the noted part that carry the name and that Histories write of A few men got into places of power seem to be all the Church or Nation by the prevalency of their actions which few dare contradict They may give Laws They may have the power of Press and Pulpit so that nothing shall be published but what they will They may call themselves the Church and call all that obey them not Schismaticks and Sectaries and strangers may believe therefore that it is but some few inconsiderable fellows that are against them when yet the far greatest part may utterly dissent and abhor their pride I have lived to see such an Assembly of Ministers where three or four leading men were so prevalent as to form a Confession of Faith in the name of the whole party which had that in it which particular members did disown And when about a controverted Article One man hath charged me deeply for questioning the words of the Church others that were at the forming of that Article have laid it all on that same man as by his impetuousness putting in that Article the rest being loth to strive much against him and so it was he himself that was the Church whose authority he so much urged at least the effectual signifying part We cannot judge what is commonest by what is uppermost or in greatest power In divers Parishes now where the Minister is conformable perhaps ten parts of the people do dislike it and sometimes you may see but three or four persons with him at the Common-prayers And yet all know that Dissenters are talkt of as a few singular Fanaticks I compare not the Causes but conclude that so also for the Numbers humble Godly persons might be very numerous though only the actions of worldly Prelates do take up most of the History of the Church Yea I believe that among the Papists themselves five to one of the people were they free from danger would declare their dislike of a great part of the actions and Doctrines of their Prelates and that the greatest part that are named Papists are not such throughly and at the heart When the Rulers Scribes and Pharisees were against Christ and persecuted him and the truth the common people so much adhered to him that the persecutors durst not seize on him openly by force but were fain to use a Traytor to apprehend him in the night and in a solitary place lest they should be stoned by the people who said Never man spake as this man speaketh § 44. Let us not therefore turn Church-History into a temptation nor think basely of the Church or Christianity or Christ because of Papal and Prelatical pride and tyranny God can make use of a surly porter to keep his doors yea a mastiff-dog may be a keeper of the house and his Corn hath grown in every Age not only with straw and chaffe but with some tares And yet he hath gathered and will gather all his chosen § 45. Nor is the Ministry it self to be therefore dishonoured For as at this day while a few turbulent Prelates persecute good men and much of the Ministry is in too many Countries lamentably corrupted yet is Religion piety and honesty kept up by the Ministry and never was well kept up without it For the Faithful Ministers labour still and their very sufferings further the Gospel and what they may not do publickly they do privately Yea their very Writings shew that still there are such as God doth qualifie to do his work even among the Papists he that readeth the pious Writings of such men as Gerson and Gerhardus Zutphaniensis and Thaulerus Thomas a Kempis Ferus and many such others will see that Gods spirit was still illuminating and sanctifying souls And he that readeth such Lives as Philip Nerius persecuted by the Bishop as an ambitious Hypocrite for setting up more serious Exercises of Religion than had been ordinarily used among the Formalists to say nothing of such privater men as M. de Renâ—y and many others will see that it is not all Church-tyranny and corruption though very heinous that will prove that Christ hath not a Holy Generation whom he will save § 46. Yea among the very corrupted sort of the Clergy many that are overcome with temptations in that point and take usurpation and tyranny and worldly pomp and violence for Order Government and the interest of the Church have yet much good in other respects Even among the Cardinals there have been such men as Nerius's companion Bellarmine and others that would Preach and practise the common Doctrines of serious piety Yea among the Jesuits there have been divers that have Preacht Written and lived very strictly much more among their Fryars and such Bishops as Sales And though their times and corruptions blemished their piety I dare not think they nullified it § 47. And it sheweth the excellency of the Sacred Office 1. That Christ did first make it as the noble Organical part of his Church to form the rest 2. That he endued the first Officers with the most noble and excellent gifts of his spirit 3. That he founded and built his Church by them at first 4. Yea that he himself preached the Gospel and is called The Minister of the Circumcision the chief
the clefts that earth-quakes make and the pestilent diseases that infect all about and distracting and dividing all the World separating the East from the West by the noise of meus tuus Antiquus Novâ—s nobilior ignobilior multitudine opulentior aut tenuior raging like furious horses in battle and like mad-men casting dust into the air and under their several Heads or Leaders fulfilling their own contentions and becoming the determiners of wicked ambition and magnificence and unrighteous and absurd judges of matters The same men saith he are to day of the same throne and judgment as we are if so our Leaders and chief men carry them Tomorrow if the wind do but turn they are for the contrary Seat and Judgment Names or Votes follow hatred or friendship And which is most grievous we blush not to say contrary things to the very same hearers Nor are we constant to our selves being changed up and down by contention You would say we are tossed like the waving Euripus Therefore he professeth that it is unseemly for him to joyn with them in their Councils as it were to leave his studies and quietness to go play with the Lads in the Streets Page 524. The like he hath in his Poem De vitâ suâ Page 24 25 26 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Etenim Magistri Plebis atque Antistites Sancti datores Spiritus qui thronis Fundunt ab altis verba queis patitur salus Cunctisque pacem jugiter qui praedicant In aede mediâ vocibus clarissimis Tanto furore se petunt sibi invicem Tumultuando contrahendo copias Carpendo sese mutuò linguâ efferâ Saliendo mentis ut solent sanae impotes Praedando quos quis ante praedari queat Rabida Imperandi dum tenet mente sitis Quinam ista verbis quibus dignè eloquar Orbem universum prorsus ut divulserint Ortumque jam Hesperum scindit magis Ardens simultas quam loci vel climata Namque illa si non finis at media uniunt At hos ligare vinculum nullum potest Non Causa Pietas Bilis hoc excogitat Ad mentiendum prona sed Lis ob Thronos Quidnam hoc vocârim Praesules Non praesules c Are not these lamentable descriptions of the Bishops of those happy times and excellent Councils Even in the days of good Theodosius when the Church recovered from under Arianisme and came newly out of the fire of Persecution The truth is All times have had some few such excellent persons as Nazianzene Basil Chrysostome c. But they have ordinarily been born down by the violent stream of a more ignorant selfish worldly sort of men All this here cited out of Gregory is much less than he saith in his last Oration De Episcopis Vol. 2. too large and sharp to be now recited Therefore I leave it to the perusal of the Learned Reader One Papist saith to me that it was the Arian or Macedonian Bishops that Gregory meant But the whole tenor of his writing speaketh the contrary and that he spake of this first Council at Constantinople one of the four which is equalled to the four Evangelists And in his 59th Epist. to Sophronius Page 816. he saith Si eos inveneritis non ob fidei doctrinam sed ob privatas simultates inter se distractos divulsos quod quidem ipse observavi c. But some may say that passion moved him to the satyrical exaggeration of his own received injuries But 1. He speaketh not of this Council only but of others also 2. He acknowledged that till the Egyptian Bishops came he had the Council Vote for his place 3. His spirit and all his endeavours were for peace and not to make things worse than they were And for peace he quit his Seat 4. And in his Epistles to the Civil Magistrates â—e afterwards wrote earnestly to them to keep the Bishops at the next Council in peace lest they should make Religion a contempt and scandal So that few men could worse be charged with abusive invectives than this Pious Learned peaceable Bishop § 8. In his 55th Epist. to Procopius page 814. refusing to come to their Council he saith If I must write the very truth I am of the mind to fly from or avoid every Meeting of Bishops For I never saw a joyful and happy end of any Council nor any that gave not more addition and increase to evils than depulsion or reformation For pertinacious contentions and the lusts of Domination or Lording Think me not saith he grievous and troublesome for writing this are such as no words can express And a man that will there be a Judg of others shall sooner contract dishonesty himself than repress the dishonesty of others They that say he speaketh only of Heretical Councils defie the light and will be believed by none that know the History § 9. The Case of Antioch briefly was this Meletius was a good man but of a healing disposition made Bishop by the Arians mistaking him and put out by them when they knew him yet he held Communion with repenting Arians Euzoius an Arian was put into his place and he kept Conventicles The grand Controversie of all the foregoing Ages was about Communion with the Lapsed that yielded to Idolatry or Heresie some over zealous were too proud of their own sufferings and were very rigid against receiving such Penitents saying they were Time servers and receiving them would encourage others to save themselves in suffering and then repent Others were too wide in receiving them upon unsatisfactory professions of Repentance The Wisest went a middle way Many Antiochians separated from Meletius because the Arians chose him and he received penitent Arians And Lucifer Calaritanus and Eusebius Vercellensis of France going to settle the Peace at Antioch Eusebius disliked their opposition to Meletius and left them Lucifer a good Man but rigid and hot against the Arians said that Meletius could be no Bishop and ordained them Paulinus and so there were three as is aforementioned The Bishop of Rome who would have a singer in all encouraged Lucifer Paulinus was a man of extraordinary goodness but yet the Canon nullified the Ordination of a Bishop into a fore possessed Seat And when half cleaved to Meletius and half to Paulinus both very good Men a Synod as is aforesaid ended the difference by tolerating both till the death of one and then making him sole Bishop The Presbyters it 's said were sworn to this Meletius dyeth first yet Flavianus a Presbyter that had stuck to them in Valens Persecution is chosen Bishop by the Meletians who will not joyn with Paulinus as a Schismatick The Pope owneth Paulinus The Council at Constantinople own Meletius first and Flavianus after Gregory Nazianzene and others were against Flavianus because they said he came in by Perjury having sworn not to accept it Some say he did not Swear Lucifer Calaritanus that Ordained Paulinus
his accusers the next day into silence Hildebrand bid him say Glory be to the Father Son and Holy Ghost◠He said the rest but was not able to name the Holy Ghost Whereupon he confest his crimes and besides seven and twenty other Prelates of the Churches forty five Bishops consest themselves Simoniacks and renounced their places What a case was the Church in when Popery grew ripe Pet. Damian mentioneth six Bishops deposed by Hildebrand for divers crimes § 10. By the way it is worthy enquiry whether Hildebrand being neither Bishop Priest nor Deacon but a sub-Deacon only was any of the Clergy or Church-Pastors to whom Christ gave the power of the Keys Yea if he had been a Deacon And therefore whether he had any power from Christ to preside before Arch-Bishops and Bishops in in Councils and to depose and excommunicate Bishops If it be said that he did it by the Pope's commission the question recurreth whether God ever gave Pope or Prelate power to make new Church-officers whom he never instituted de specie that should have the power of the Keys yea and be above the Bishops of the Church And whether Popes or Prelates may commit preaching or Sacraments to Lay-men if not how can they commit the Keys of Church-Government to them or to any as little authorized by Christ Indeed baptizing is but using the Key of Church-entrance And therefore he that may so let men into the Church may baptize them which Papists unhappily allow the Laity And if per se or per alium will salve all whether Priests may not preach pray and give Sacraments by Lay-men And so Lay-men at last put down both Prelates and Priests as needless § 11. CCCXXXIX An. 1055. They say that this great Subdeacon Hildebrand the grand advancer of the Roman Kingdom did call a Council at Tours which cited poor Berengarius and forced him to recant whether it be true I know not § 12. To this Council the Emperor Henry sent his Agents to complain that Ferdinand the great King of Castile refused subjection to the Emperor and claimed some such title to himself and now ignorance superstition and interest having made the Clergy the Rulers of Kings and Kingdoms the Emperor desireth that King Ferdinand may be excommunicate unless he will submit and surcease and all the Kingdom of Spain be interdicted or forbidden Gods worship The Prelates perceived how they were set up by this motion and made Kings of Kings and they thought the Emperor's motion reasonable and without hearing King Ferdinand made themselves judges and sent him word that he must submit and obey or be excommunicated and bear the interdict The King took time to answer and calling his own Bishops together found them of the same mind and spirit and so was forced to promise submission This Baronius an 1055. writes ex Io. Mariano and Binnius p. 1126. § 13. CCCXL They say that the Emperor dying left his Son Henry but five years old and knew no better way to secure his succession than to desire Pope Victor to take the care of it who therefore called a Council at Colen to quiet Baldwin and Godfrey Earls of Flanders that else would have resisted him Thus Bishops in Councils now were as Parliaments to the Kingdoms of deluded men § 14. CCCXLI At Tholouse an 1056. A Council of 18 Bishops attempted reformation forbidding alas how oft Bishops to sell orders and other acts of Simony and Priests using their wives and the Adultery Incest and perjury of Bishops and Priests bidding them that are such repent and forbidding communion with men called hereticks § 15. CCCXLII Though Adultery Incest Perjury and Simony of Bishops was so hardly restrained it seems they would pay for it by superstition for a Council at Compostella decreed saith Baron ad an 1056. that 1. All Bishops and Priests should say Mass every day 2. That at fasts and Litanies which were perambulations in penitence they should be cloathed in sackcloth § 16. Stephen the 9th alias 10th is next made Pope In his time saith Platina the Church of Milan was reconciled to Rome that had withdrawn itself from it two hundred years Was all the world then subject to the Pope when his Italian neighbours were not § 17. This Pope lived after his entrance but 6 or 7 months and they say made them promise him to choose none in his place till Hildebrand came home to counsel them A great Subdeacon that Rome must be ruled by But in the mean time the new Emperor being but five or six years old the great men of Italy turned to the old game and brought in one by strength Mincius whom they called Benedict the 10th alias 9th a Bishop he reigned 9 months 20 dayes But when Hildebrand came home he got him cast out This was the twenty first schism in the Papacie § 18. Hildebrand's crafty counsel was to send to the Emperor to consent to Gerard Bishop of Florence whom they chose in Italy and called Nicholas the 2d Lest Benedict should get the Emperor on his side and so Nicholas made Benedict renounce and banished him But how shall we be sure which was the true Pope § 19. This Pope's first epistle is to the Arch-Bishop of Rhemes to advise him to admonish the King of France for resisting the Pope § 20. CCCXLIII The Pope's Council at Sutrium deposed Benedict § 21. CCCXLIV An. 1059. A Council of 113 Bishops at Rome they say made Berengarius recant but not repent but as soon as he came home he wrote against them and their Doctrine § 22. In this Council saith Platina the Pope made a decree very profitable to the Church of Rome Bin. saith these were the words translated p. 1666. First God being the Inspector it is decreed that the election of the Roman Bishop be in the power of the Cardinal Bishops so that if any one be inthroned in the Apostolick seat without the foregoing concordant and Canonical election of them and after the consent of the following religious Orders Clerks and Laity he be not accounted Apostolical but Apostatical Here it is much to be noted 1. That this is a new foundation of the Papacy by Hildebrand's Council without which it was falling to utter confusion How then doth the Roman sect cry down Innovation and boast of Antiquity 2. Either the Bishop of Rome is to be chosen as the Bishop of that particular Church and then the members of that particular Church should choose him or else as the Bishop of the universal Church pretendedly and then the universal Church should choose him But the Cardinal Bishops of other particular Churches are neither the particular Roman Church nor the universal nor their delegates and so have no just pretence of power 3. Either this decree was new or old and in force before If new their Church foundation is new and mutable as is said If old all the Popes that were otherwise chosen
Prov. 13. 13. And he that despiseth despiseth not man but God 1 Thes. 4. 8. So he hath told us that it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgement then for such Mat. 10. 15. Many a thousand prouder enemies then you hath Christ broken and look to your selves for your day is coming If you had but stumbled on this stone it would have broken you in pieces but seeing you will strive against it it will fall on you and griâ—d you to pouder Mat. 21. 44. And then you shall see that he that made them his Embassadors will bear them out and say In as much as you did it to these you did it to me And you shall then say Blessed are they that trust in him 7. It is apparent that these enemies of the Ministers are playing the Papists game Because the just disgrace of their Ministry was the ruine of their Kingdom therefore they hope to win of us at the same game They know that if the people were brought into a hatred or suspition of their guides they might the easier be won to them They tell us in their writings that not one of ten of our people but taketh his faith on trust from their Teachers and therefore take them oâ—f from them and they will faâ—l but they delude themselves in this For though the ungodly among us have no true faith of their own and the Godly must lean on the hand of their supporters yet there is in them a living principle and we do not as the Papists priests teach our people to see with our eyes and no matter for their own but we help to clear their own eye-sight Doubt not but the most of the sects in the Land that fall against the Ministry are knowingly or ignorantly the agents of the Papists For the principal work of a Papist is to cry down the Ministry and the Scripture and to set all they can on the same work 8. These sects that are against the Ministry do all the same work as the Drunkards Whore-mongers Covetous and all ungodly persons in our Parishes do And therefore it seems they are guided by the same spirit It is the work of Drunkards and all these wicked wretches to hate and despise and revile the Ministers and to teach others to say as they And just so do Quakers Seekers Papists and all other Malignants reproach the same Ministers And yet the blind wretches will not see that the same Spirit moveth them 9. It is apparent that it is the Devils game they play and his interest and Kingdom which they promote Who fights against Christs Officers and Army but the General of the contrary Army What greater service could all the world do for the Devils then to cast out the Ministers of Christ and what more would the Devil himself desire to set up his Kingdom and suppress the Church Wretches you shall 〈◊〉 see your Master and he will pay you your wages contrary to your expectation Read Gods word to a Malignant Acts 13. 10. 10. These Enemies do reproach as faithful a Ministry as the world enjoyeth and their malice hath so little footing as that the result must be their own shame Among the Papists indeed there are Mass-Priests that can but read a Mass whose Office is to turn a piece of Bread into a God And yet these the Malignants either let alone or liken us to them The Greeks and Ethiopians and most of the Christian World have a Ministry that seldome or never preach to them but read Common-prayer and Homilies The most of the Protestant Churches have a learned Ministry that is so taken up with Controversies that they are much less in the powerful preaching and practise of godliness Above all Nations under Heaven the English are set upon Practical Divinity and Holiness and yet even they are by Malignity chosen out for reproach Alas scandals in the Ministry as drunkenness swearing c. among other Nations are but too common but in England Magistrates and Ministers combine against them Ministers are still spurring on the Magistrates to cast out the insufficient negligent and scandalous and desire and use more severity with men of their own profession than with Magistrates or any others in the Land In nothing are they more zealous than to sweep out all the remnant of the scandalous And for themselves they are devoted to the work of the Lord and think nothing too much that they are able to perform but preach in season and out of season with all long-suffering and Doctrine and yet Malignants make them their reproach 11. It is abundance of pride and impudency that these Malignant Enemies are guilty of They are most of them persons of lamentable ignorance and yet they dare revile at the Teachers and think themselves wise enough to rebuke and teach them Many of them are men of wicked lives and yet they can tell the world how bad the Ministers are A Railer a Drunkard a covetous Worldling an ignorant Sot is the likest person to fall upon the Minister and the Owl will call the Lark a Night-bird Alas when we come to try them what dark wretches do we find them and should be glad if they were but teachable And yet they have learnt the Devils first Lesson to despise their Teachers 12. And O what barbarous ingratitude are these Malignant Enemies of the Ministry guilty of For whom do we watch but for them and others Can they be so blind as to think a painful Minister doth make it his design to seek himself or to look after great matters in the world Would not the time and labour and cost that they are at in the Schools and Universities have fitted them for a more gainful trade Do not Lawyers Physitians c. live a far easier and in the world a more honourable plentiful life Have not the Ministers themselves been the principal Instruments of taking down Bishops Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons Prebends and all means of preferment And what have they got by it or ever endeavoured Speak malice and spare not Is it any thing but what they had before Even the maintenance due to their particular charge Unthankful wretches It is for your sakes and souls that they study and pray and watch and fast and exhort and labour to the consuming of their strength and when they have done are made the Drunkards Song and the scorn of all the wicked of the Country and when they spend and are spent the more they love the less they are beloved In the times of this greatest prosperity of the Church they live under constant hatred and scorn from those that they would save and will not let alone in sin And what do they endure all this for but Gods honour and your salvation Would we be Ministers for any lower ends Let shame from God and man be on the face of such a Minister I profess were it not for the belief of the greatness and necessity and
servants of Satan do and be at peace among your selves Heb. 13. 7 17 24. Remember them which have the rule over you which have spoken to you the word of God Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Salute all them that have the Rule over you The Elders of the Church are to pray with and for the sick Jam. 5. 14. They must feed the Flock of God among them taking the oversight of it 1 Pet. 5. 1 2. Thus you see their Office and work 2. And that they were not to bring any new Doctrine further appears in that they have a charge to Preach no other doctrine 1 Tim. 1. 3. Nor to be tossed as children with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4. 14. Nor carried about with divers and strange doctrines Heb. 13. 9. 3. Yea if any man bring not the doctrine of Christ we must not receive him into our houses or bid him God speed lest we be partakers of his evil deeds for he that abideth not in this doctrine hath not God 2 John 9. 10 11. Gal. 1. 8. 9. Though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel to you then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again If any man preach any other Gospel to you then that ye have received let him be accursed And Rom. 16. 17 18. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them 1 Tim. 6. 3. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsome words the words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doating 4. And if all Ministers must be receivers of new Doctrines the Church would never know when it hath all but would be still obeying an imperfect Law 5. And it would be an oppression to the Church instead of a Direction to be so overwhelmed with new Doctrines and Precepts 6. And it would accuse Christ the Lawgiver of such mutability as wise Princes are not guilty of to be still changing or adding to his Laws 7. There was great occasion for the New Testament or Gospel upon the great work of our Redemption but there is no such cause for alterations since 8. The Priests before Christ were not to receive new Laws as is said 9. The Companions of the Apostles that wrought Miracles had not all new Revelations but did it to seal up this Gospel 10. What need we more then actual experience that God doth not give New Revelations to the world and none since the Scripture times have sealed any other by Miracles And thus I have proved to you the two sorts of Ministers as Paul plainly distinguisheth them 1 Cor. 3. 10 11 12. Eph 2. 20. There are Planters and Waterers Master builders that lay the foundation and others that build thereon Other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid but every man that buildeth hay or stuble and loseth his work doth not nullifie the Ministry We are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ being the head corner-stone but we are not built on the foundation of every Pastor Teacher Elder Bishop or Deacon Though both in their places Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers are given for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the Edifying of the body of Christ Eph. 4. 11 12. That we might be one united Body having one fixed standing doctrine ver 14 15 16. And how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him mark whence the Church receiveth it God also bearing them witness but not every Elder or Teacher both with signs and wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Heb. 2. 3 4. Prop. 2. And now that these later Ministers need not prove their calling by Miracles I prove thus 1. God never imposed such a task upon them nor commanded the people to require such a proof and not to believe any but worker of Miracles 2. God gave not all the gift of Miracles that were employed in his work even in the Apostles daies Are all workers of Miracles saith Paul some had by the Spirit the word of wisedom and of knowledge and others Tongues and others Interpretation and others Miracles 1 Cor. 12 29 7 8 9 10. 3. They that have the Holy Ghost are owned by Christ and so have many without working Miracles See Rom. 8. 9. 1 Cor. 12. 3. Gal. 5. 18 22 23 24. 1 Cor. 6. 11. Eph. 3. 16. 5. 9 18. 1 Pet. 1. 2 22. Rom. 15. 13 16. Tit. 3. 5. 4. The Law of Moses was kept and taught by Priests and Levites that wrought not Miracles 5. If the Laws of all Nations may be kept without Miracles so may the Laws of Christ. 6. If humane writings are kept without Miracles as Homer Virgil Ovid Cicero Livy c. so may the Laws of God much more as being the daily subject of the belief meditation conference preaching controversies devotions of Christians through the world and translated into so many Tongues 7. There is nothing in the Nature of the thing that requireth ordinary Miracles Cannot men sufficiently prove without Miracles that there have been such men as Caesar Pompey Aristotle or which be Calvins or Bellarmines writings c. Much more evidently may they prove what doctrine is essential to Christianity and the Scripture that contains the whole 8. Else Parents could not teach their children nor bring them up in the Nurture and admonition of the Lord Eph. 6. 4. Nor teach them with Timothy from a child to know the Scriptures which are able to make men wise to salvation through faith in Christ 2. Tim. 3. 15. Must no Parents teach their Children to know Christ but such as can work Miracles 9. The Doctrine which we preach is fully confirmed by Miracles already by Christ and his Apostles There needs no greater then Christs own Resurrection nor more then were done which Universal unquestionable History and Tradition hath brought down to our hands 10. It is a ridiculous expectation that every person should see the Miracles before they do believe Then if Christ had done Miracles before all Ierusalem save one man that one man should not be bound to believe Or if I could do miracles in this Town or Country none must believe me ever the more but those that see it And so you may as well say I should not believe that there is any Sea or Land City or Kingdom France Spain Rome c. but what I see Are these men