the Flock So it should fare with those defenceless Creatures if an Hostile Army should invade a peaceable People living securely without any Fear or Apprehension of such a sudden Deluge Friends and Foes Heterodox and Orthodox Conformist and Non-Conformist would be all overflowed alike the insolent Souldier having no other Eyes to discern but what Nature hath given to all living Creatures betwixt the Faith of an Heretick and the Orthodox save only by their Paleness and Garb. So that they who are accustomed to Rapine almost from their Infancies if they found rich Moveables and easily transportable to their own Countries whether the Owners were rich in the Faith or not they would not concern themselves with that nice Distinction But as it was said of the dayes of Caligula That it was then Crime enough to be rich so all should be Fish that should come in their Net so impartial would these rude Souldiers be And the Emperour would be so far from attaining his End that it would rather harden these deluded People to persist in their Non-Conformity they looking upon themselves as Martyrs at least Confessors for their imaginary Faith the most ignorant among them being at least so intelligent as to understand that this is not the peaceable Method of the Gospel to proselyte any to the Christian Faith but point blank contrary thereunto By which truly zealous Intercession this Devout man at last diverted the Tyrant from that most cruel Design But in fine I shall remit them to the serious Consideration of the State and Practice of the Primitive Church when the Civil Magistrate was no Christian but a Persecuter of that way whose Concurrence they could not expect to their Discipline but rather a violent Opposition thereunto And if any of them seemed to put to their helping hand it was not any Love to the Discipline of the Church but Ragione del ' Stato as the Italians phrase it Thus the Emperour Aurelianus did drive away Paulus Samosatenus that Arch-heretick and Bishop from Antioch but it was out of no Principle of Respect to the Church that he did so for he was accounted one of the Persecuting Emperours but from Reason of State because that proud Heretick was a great Incendiary in that City Let therefore the present Church imitate that excellent Pattern of the Primitive before the Halcyonian day of the great Constantine But if in ordine ad Spiritualia they will needs make their Address to the Secular Magistrate for the Coercion of Delinquents I wish it were rather in the matter of gross Scandal contumaciously persever'd in notwithstanding of the highest Censures of the Church inflicted upon them than of the Sentiments of the Judgment which proceed not the length of unwarrantable Practices For they who are incorrigibly profane are more overawed by the Terror of man than by the Fear of God and much more by the Temporal Sword of the Criminal Judge than by the Spiritual Sword of the Church for habitual Practical Atheists may without breach of Charity be presum'd to be such in Speculation I shall only instance the Profanation of the Lord's Day by Salmon-Fishing there being a vile Pack of brain-sick Hereticks in this Land who allow the Practice of it I am indeed far from pleading for a Judaical Sabbath in this Church But for any who are called Christians to be so employed in the time of God's Solemn Worship must needs be very odious in the Sight of Heaven and exceedingly scandalous in the Eyes of all those who are devoted to a Religious Service Neither find we any such Irregularities tolerated in any Christian Church which passeth not under the name of Barbarous no not in Geneva or Amsterdam I know certainly that this Insolency hath been represented both privately and publickly to the chiefest Governours of this Church and they obtested to implore the Assistance of his Majesties Secret Councel in order to the effectual Suppression of that Scandal as being so reflective upon the present Government but I fear it hath not yet been done for there is neither Bruit nor Fruit of that Address But if the Governours of our Church desire to avoid those bitter Sarcasmes Medice cura teipsum Turpe est Doctori c. De ingratis etiam ingrati queruntur qui non ardet non accendit Si vis me flere c. Which in plain English import that we should wash our own Mouths before we apply Gargarisms to others Or to use our Saviour's Phrase pull out the Beam before thou espy the Mote then let them have a special Care not to be found Profaners of the Lord's Day themselves Which Scandal ' they ought to shun the more solicitously because it was one of the Rocks on which their Predecessours did split if we may believe the verbal Assertion of many living Witnesses and that which a late learned Writer hath consign'd in print Which Reflection should serve at least as a Pharos to prevent all Shipwracks of that nature for the future But how this Beacon hath been observed may be perceived from the ensuing little Story A Bedal of a Country-Church being questioned not long agoe before a Country-Session for bringing home a Burden of Flax on the Lord's Day made this Apology for himself That not many Days before there had been a Bishop in that Village who in his Return from the North where he had been visiting his aged Father of the same Order with himself lodged all Night in the Minister's House though the Incumbent was not at home and not staying to supply that Vacancy travelled many Miles that Day of his Removal which was the Lord's Day with a great Baggage-Horse in his Train whose Burden was far above the Proportion of Flax he had brought home Whence he inferr'd That he thought the Bishops had brought such Carriages in Fashion on the Lord's Day and that he might lawfully imitate them who were the Fathers and Lights of the Church From which blunt but true Story for the poor door-keeper was censured in Publick for all his imaginary Authentick Apology I shall also deduce this Inference That all Church-men should be as vigilant as Dragons over their Conversation in the World that they give not the least Offence unto any that Stumbling-block occasioning the most dangerous Fall which is laid by the imprudent deportment of an Ecclesiastick The Plurality of men being more enclined to live by Examples than by Rules the former being much more obvious to Plebeian heads than the latter besides it hath a secret Magnetical Virtue like the Loadstone it attracts by a Power of which we can give no Account Yea such is the perverseness of humane Nature since that woful Lapse of our first Parents that the generality of men are more prone to follow Evil than to imitate that which is Good But that we may shut up this Point I shall add no more to the Prosecution of Delinquents in Foro Ecclesiastico but only this Wish That the Governours
two great Wheels of that hellish Combination viz. By maintaining the Lawfulness of Defensive Arms in Subjects against their Prince which if once taken up do seldome fail to become offensive e're they be laid down I shall say no more against this Infernal Spring but that the Primitive Church knew no such Doctrine nor Practice and they must be grossely ignorant of their Tenents who imagine the Contrary it being Lippis Tonsoribus notum That Preces Lachrymae were the only Offensive and Defensive Arms of that Church against her most violent Persecutors under the Notion of Authority So that we need not Instance S. Mauricius with his famous Thebaean Legion Nor the Army of Iulian the Apostate Nor make a Retrogradation unto the Apologetick of Tertullian who tells the Roman Emperour That the Christians in his time were so numerous that they had so filled the Court and Places of Judicature yea and the Imperial Army it self that they wanted not sufficient Physical Power to defend themselves against all their Adversaries If their excellent Religion had not taught them rather to suffer patiently for God than to resist the Authority then in Being which though wickedly exercised they acknowledged to be derived from God Or if they have the Confidence to say That there is an Obligation lying upon People when they dream of a Necessity to Reform the Church if they suppose the Prince to be negligent and that not only without but also against the Authority of their Sovereign Such Bigots though dying in the Attempt were never reputed Martyrs by the Primitive Church but rather judgjudged Seditious as is evident from Can. 60. Concil Elib Which insinuates this Reason That Paul made not Use of his Hands but only of his eloquent Tongue against the Idols of Athens If such Phanatical Principles be found in them let them be rejected as the dangerous Spawn of Presbyterian Independant and Anabaptistical Brood which is still endeavouring to hatch a Cockatrice Egg that may prove a Basilisk to this Church And I fear there be too many such young Snakes already taken in her Bosome which being once warmed with the heat of Sedition will do their endeavour to sting unto death the Mother that fosters them Yet I should wish that if any of these Youths be found towardly though pitifully marred in their Education the Bishop who is most concerned in them would take them home to his own Family and by piece-meal instill better Principles into them It being found by Experience that they who are sincere Converts become most zealous for the Interest of the Church 6. The next Particular I would have noticed is that of Simony Therefore let all those who desire to enter into Holy Orders or who are to be transplanted from one Church to another purge themselves by Oath of that Crime It cannot be denyed but that the usual Oath tendered in this Church is indifferent strict though some in this subtle Age have invented modes of evading it But whatsoever Paction Parents make privily with the Patron let not the Sons be balked from vindicating themselves of being Art or Part of those hellish Transactions it being more consonant to Reason that they who are of approved Integrity should be waved than those who are under Suspition For as Iulius Caesar said of his Wife so it should be with all Ministers of the Gospel even not only void of a Crime but also of Suspicion But I fear the contrary is too frequently done That Oath being tendered in Course to those who are under no Suspicion but these sometimes pretermitted who are under a flagrant Scandal of Simony Which Omission not only verifies that of the Poet Dat veniam corvis c. but also brings an indelible Reproach on the Church and Governours thereof And if any Church-man having come by a blank Presentation should be so graceless as to fill up the Name of his reciprocal Beneficiary because he hath replenished the Pockets of his Patron with some money though a jeering Laick would happly say Emerat ille prius vendere jure potest Yet there is not modest Ecclesiastick but would be so far out of Countenance with that Reproach upon the Church as to return nothing else save that Lamentation of the Poet Pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli And if any refuse to take the Oath when it is tendered to them let them be declared Inhabiles according to the ancient Canons And if they be found afterwards guilty notwithstanding they have taken the Oath let them be degraded and excommunicated for adding Perjury to that Crime which needed no Complication to make it great for they who living in the Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity have owned Simon Magus for their Father ought not to be reputed Sons of the Church And let all those Gehazites who have the Impudence to sell such Matters that kind of Merchandise having become too much in fashion in this Age be Censured according to the Canons of the Church For to their Souls as an old Father hath said St. Ambrose by name in lieu of the Grace of God a Leprosie doth cleave much worse than that which did adhere unto the Covetous Servant of Elisha and his Seed for ever Their common Apology may be easily answered For though it is no Spiritual Gift which they sell and consequently not properly Simony yet it is Spirituali annexum and therefore declared by the Canons of the Church to fall under the Censure of that Crime and its Denomination And seeing by all the Laws whereby our Church is Governed the Officium is declared inseparable à Beneficio there being no Ministeria vaga amongst us and by the Canon-Law when a Presbyter was Ordained sine Titulo the Bishop who did so was bound to maintain him till he were otherwise provided Therefore our Church hath good reason to censure the Buyers and Sellers of Benefices as Simoniacal Persons Now over and above that Pathetical Declamation of St. Ambrose I could amass many other sharp Invectives of the Fathers against this Crime but I forbear lest this Article swell to too great a Bulk and shall only add this Wish That seeing there be too many Laick Patrons who have a liquorish Appetite after the sweetness of God's Bread as one phraseth it to a very bad Sence I say I wish that they were authorized by a Municipal Law to gather up the Fruits of the first Year's Vacancy or of the half thereof where there is an Annat provided that the Bishop of the Diocess with the Advice of the respective Presbytery who may be presumed to know better than any the State of a vacant Church within their own Bounds have the Nomination of the Incumbent Which expedient would not only obviate that detestable Crime but should also prevent many other Inconveniences not fit to be here expressed As for the pretence of a Law wherewith some in this Land are apt to
suppose it was not of such a Latitude as the then Third and now Fourth Part of the Terraqueal Globe at least of the known World Nor the Dimension of all Asia the Lesser called Anatolia by the Greeks as being East from them and now Natolia by the Turks Neither was it the Roman Asia in its greatest Latitude which comprehended the great Kingdom of Pergamus viz. Ionia Aeolis Lydia Caria with the two Mysia's and Phrygia's The Proconsular Asia was yet less for it comprehended only Ionia and Aeolis with the Islands of the Aegaean Sea and about the Hellespont But Asia proprâ—â— dicta of which the Apostle and Irenaeus speak was least of all for it had no more in it but Ionia and Aeâ—liâ— as I herom tâ—stisies and Erasmus is of the same opinion that Asia in the Acts â—mports only that Country where Epheus stood that is Ionia Now though 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 as it is distinguished â—â—om the Greater consisted of many other Provinces over and above what we have expressed 〈◊〉 Bithynia Paphlagonia 〈…〉 Pontus Armenia the Lesser Lyâ—aonia Pisidia Isauria Lyciaâ— and 〈◊〉 yet all of them amount not â—igh to the Dimension of the Famous Kingdom of France And though Ionia was very Fertile and consequently Populous yet the Dimension thereof being but small it was â—asie for St. Paul staying at Miletus a little City on the Coast of Iâ—niaâ— not far from Ephesus and St. Hiâ—rom saith truly within ten Furlongs of the Ostiary 〈◊〉 that famous River Meander to call foâ— all the Bishops of that Province to come untâ— him We have insisted the longer upon this â—istorico-Geographical Digression to demonstrate to the World that Presbyterians make much adoe about nothing and build their largest Hopes on a sandy Foundation But let us grant to them which I know D. Hammond and they that follow him will not yield that the Apostle in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus usâ—th these Names promisâ—uously what have they gain'd thereby Were Bishops of old called Elders So were the Apostles in Scripture sometimes termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet no man in his right Wits but will grant that they had a Superiority over Presbyters and Deacons Use is certainly the best master of Words For Nomina being ex insâ—ituto that which is applyed to signifie such a Notion of the Mind may by common Consent import a contrary Conception as is well observed by that glorious and learned Martyr King Charles the first in his Dispute at Newport in the Isle of Wight where that Royal Champion like another Athanasius fighting against the World tells those Presbyterian Ministers That he is not much concerned whether they call Episcopatus Ordo or Gradus or what Name they give it provided they acknowlege the Superiority of those Church-Officers over Presbyters and Deacons This was formerly â—â—â—â—uated by that great and good Prince in his Disputation with M. Henderson at New-castle whom he routed both Horse and Foot and sâ—nt home that Apostle of the Covenanâ— a Royal Proselyte For this great Athleta like to the invincible Hercules in all his Labours was in all the Disputes that he managed with his unparallel'd â—en more than Conquerour through Him that loved him Yea Salmatius and Blondel the two great Champions of Presbytery are constrain'd 〈…〉 least in the 〈…〉 betwixt Presbyters and 〈◊〉 And if Blondel from the year 〈◊〉 which he makes the Epocha of that 〈◊〉 Impropriation had made a 〈◊〉 to CXI he would have found S. Ignatius in his Epistles which are accounted 〈◊〉 clâ—arly and frequâ—ntly distinguishing betwixt Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and that in no less than 35 several 〈…〉 which we have no leisure to 〈…〉 accounted 〈◊〉 for these 〈…〉 so fully vindicated by 〈…〉 and D. Pearceson that all the Gratings of Salmasius Blondel Capellus and D. Owen will never file off the least Atom from their Solidity I hope all they of the Episcopal Order and Way will pardon this Digression I shall therefore only deprecate for the Tediousness thereof if these insignificant Lines chance to fall into the hands of others all my Design being to speak a Word for Truth and to give an evidence to the World that I am no bigot Presbyterian But we have not yet done with this Article For there is something yet quod cadit in Consequentiam Let not therefore the Governours of our Church be inaccessible to any of their Presbyters nor suffer them to dance Attendance at their Gates as if they were the poor Yeomen of their Guard Clemens Rom. in his excellent Epistle describes the Lord Jesus to this Purpose whom all Church-men ought to imitate Dominus noster I. Christus Sceptrum magnificentiae non venit in jactantia Superbiae arrogantiae quamvis potuerit sed in humilitate For I would have them to remember That it is not Nature but only the Providence of God that hath made the Difference betwixt them and it 's possible rather the Grace of their Prince than any Merit of their own which hath dignified them with such a Title And if the same be substracted their â—rest would instantly fall down to the Point base of the Shield And when Presbyters come where Bishops are let them enjoy a ferene Countenance without any supercilious Command to keep their Distance or according to the new coyn'd Phrase Know your Measures But I wish they consider and practise that sober Measure which an Heathen Poet prescribes unto all Mushroms of a Night's growth Fortunam reverenter habe quicunque repente Dives ab exili c. For good Words never hurt the Mouth nor excoriate the Tongue And when any Presbyter who is sufficiently known to have been constantly of sound Principles and Practice conform shall with all due respect Represent some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Ecclesiastical Government For I believe they think not themselves we are living in Platonis Republica sed in Faece Romuli to whicâ— Regret he is prompted by his Loyalâ—y 〈◊〉 Church and State let him not be 〈◊〉 away as presumptuous and Impertinent to tender an Admonition be it never to Brotherly and humble to one that iâ— forsooth so much his Superiour as if the ingenuous Presbyter had committed a Solaecism greater than that of 〈◊〉 who prâ—sum'd to teach the Great 〈◊〉 the Stratagems of War But 〈…〉 them to remember That Humanum 〈◊〉 aliquando bonus 〈…〉 and hath need to be awaken'd to 〈◊〉 his Charge and 〈…〉 times suggest 〈…〉 Alexander the Great 〈…〉 to Abdolominus a poor Gardiner 〈◊〉 of the Blood Royal of Sidâ—n That 〈◊〉 spake bettâ—◠〈…〉 point of 〈◊〉 than eve◠〈◊〉 heard from any of his greatest Captains Yea Antiâ—â—â—us the Great declared solemnly That he had learned more concerning Truâ—hs as to the Interest of his Government from a poor Countrey Peasant in one Night's Conâ—renee with him than he had done from all hs Courtiers heretofore For if such Presbyters be discountenanced and their
Episcopis servire non cogantur quia scriptum est Nâ—que ut dominantes in Clero Vid. Hieronym Epist. 2. ad Nepotian where he sayes Sâ—a subjectus Pontifici tuo quasi Animae Parentem suscipe which Counsel savours very little of Fanaticism se Sacerdotes non Dominos esse noverint Honorent Clericos quasi Clericos ut ipsis à Clericâ—s quasi Episcopis honor deseratur sâ—itum est illud Oratoris Domitii Cur ego te inquit habeam ut Principem cum tu me non habeas ut Senatorem Augustin Epist. 48. Nonomnis qui parcit amicus est nec omnis qui verberat iâ—micus c. Ambros. Serm. 14. Leon. 1. Epist. 82. Greg. 1. De Cura Past. par 3. Admonendi sunt Subditi ne plus quà m expedit sint subjecti ne cum student plus quà m necesse est hominibus subjici compellantur Vitra eorum venerari Article XIV Psal. 95. 6. Mat. 18. 20. Rom. 15. 6 16 17. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 5. 8. 6. 20. 11. 2 4 7 22 34. 14. 33 40. Col. 2. 5. Tit. 1. 5. Heb. 10. 25. SEING we have so frequently mentioned the ancient Canons of the Church it being as indecent if not as dangerous for a Church to be without Canons as for a State to be without Edicts these serving not only as a Directory to the reciprocal Duties of Bishops Presbyters and People but being also Boundaries to all I wish we had some thing that looked like them and served in Lieu of them till they be imposed by Authority For the Tender of the Canonical Oath unto the Candidates of that Sacred Function doth necessarily presuppose some Canons according to which their Obedience should be squared and by which also the Injunctions of their Superiours ought to be regulated For I hope none of them are so simple as to imagine that this Oath doth imply an absolute implicit Obedience unto the Beneplacita of Ecclesiastick Governours as if Sic volo sic jubeo slat pro ratione Voluntas were the adequate Law of our Church The Angelical Dâ—ctor hath better deâ—in'd it who tells us that to speak properly Lex est Sententia praecipiens honesta c. and that it must be enacted with the general Consent of the Clergy otherwise it cannot be a binding Law to the Church and if those Qualifications be wanting though that Precept may be â—ermed An Ecclesiastical Law yet it is not truly such but Violentia Yea more than so as the Swearing of a Souldier to the Colours of his General doth not only import that he knows them from the Standard of the Common Enemy but also that this Sacramentum Militare is with a due Subordination unto him who gave that General his Commission unless any have a mind to imitate the Treachery of that famous Wolsâ—ein of whom it is reported by some that before his fatal Retreat to Fgra he took an independent Oath of the Imperial Army For the Precepts of the Superiour must not interfere with the Commands of the Supreme which if they be found to do they ought not to be obeyed And if it be concluded that this Canonical Oath in the privation of Canons is but a meer Non-ens Certainly these Fanatical Preachers are most obliged to some Bishops who have permitted them still to Officiate in this Church and yet were never so impertinent as to require from them any Subscription to this Chimerical Fiction Therefore I would humbly entreat the Reverend Fathers of our Church to meet privately amongst themselves accompanied with one or two of their respective Presbyters 〈◊〉 they judge most Judicious and knoâ— to be of unquestionable Principles and let them unanimously resolve upon an Uniformity of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government to be practised in this Church It is certainly a matter of Lamentation that our National Church should resemble America in its first Discovery for as Peter Martyr and Ioseph Acosta report a good Horseman in one Summer's day's Travel might meet with variety of Languages Habits and Religion amongst that Barbarous People Sure I am not to speak of Confirmation which is already pressed they might easily introduce a Platform of Administrating the Blessed Sacraments of the Gospel For when one varies from the precise words of the Institution which is but too frequently done he shall hardly perswade me that he hath Consecrated those Holy Symbols or Elements as they are usually termed at that time the words of the Divine Institution being the Essential Form of a Sacrament And let not the Lord's Prayer be any more neglected in the Consecration of the Eucharist which as St. Cyprian testifies was the constant Epiphonema of that Solemn Benediction in all the Churches of Christ in his time The same is also attested by St. Hilary and St. Augustin As for the Gesture at the Holy Table I humbly suppose Standing will be found the best Expedient to introduce Uniformity into this Church not only because it staves off the serupulous Fears of an Arto-latria but also in regard we find direct Evidence for the Practice thereof in the Primitive Church I shall only produce one Private and another Publick Authority for it though many more might be adduc'd to this purpose Dionysius Alexandrinus who lived about the middle of the third Century and Wrote Anno Dom. 260. testifies in a Letter to Pope Xystus That it was the Custom of the Church in his time to stand at the Lord's Table As for the Publick Authority The 20th Canon of the Great and First General Councel at Nice is sufficient where we find Kneeling on the Lord's Day and on the day of Pentecost expresly prohibited and the practice of Standing at their Devotions explicitly enjoyn'd And that because the Lord's Day is the ordinary Christian Festival and the whole time of Pentecost which comprehends the fifty dayes betwixt Easter and Whitsunday inclusively the constant Festivity of the Church Tertullian and Epiphanius looking upon it as an Apostolical universal Tradition not to kneel all that time Whence we may infer That if some men speak Consequenter ad Principia one whereof is That this Blessed Sacrament is the most solemn part of Christian Devotion they must either grant that the Eucharist was received on those dayes in a standing Posture or that the People of God did not at all communicate at these times which were a very absurd Notion seeing they are acknowledged by all who are not wildly â—aâ—atick to be the fittest Seasons for the Participation of that great Mystery whereas that of Kneeling is but consequentially inferr'd because the Fathers usually term the Holy Eucharist The most sublime the most solemn and most useful part of Christian Devotion and that it is Tremendum adorabâ—le Mysterium though under Favour we must expound it and so the Context usually imports of internal Adoration unless we intend to joyn Issue with the Popish Idolatry As for that irreverent and lazy Posture of Sitting we