was done by one was done by All All did censure if one did the Expulsion made by one Bishop out of any Church was in effect an Expulsion from all the Churches and so a cutting off entirely from Christianity and all Communion of Saints Thus they aimed in a General Bishoprick at what the Church of Rome doth in a personal in affirming which I do not impose upon you for S. Cyprian is plain Hoc â—rant utique says he in his Tractate de simplicitate Praelatorum caeteri Apostoli quid fuit Petrus pariconsoriio praediti honoris potestatis sed Exordium ab unitate proficiscitur ut Ecclesia una monstretur c. quam unitatem firmiter tenere vindicâ—re debemus maximè Episcopi qui in Ecclesia praesidemus ut Episcopatum quoque ipsum unum utque Indivisum probemus Thence also came the Rails about the Table I mean the Differences of Communions Clerical and Laical to wit to raise the Reputation and Credit of the Clergy and withal to make their Ceusures the more solemn and awful as also that the Clergy who were obliged to a stricter and more exemplary life if they did not live it might have a peculiar Punishment which was to be thrust from the Clerical Communion and be degraded to that of the Laity In fine hence Publick Confessions and rigorous shaming Penances in all the Decrees of them Fletus Auditio Substractio Consistentia had their beginning and also solemn Absolutions by the Imposition of the Hands of the Bishop and of the Presbyters Which things as being only Human and Politick tho' not unnecessary for the Time are all of them alterable and some actually altered Again as Controversies arose in the Churches either about Matters of Doctrin or of Discipline the Apostles while they lived and were in a Condition those especially which founded such particular Churches where they arose did take care to end such Differences and were accordingly repaired unto for that purpose Thus in the Business of Antioch Appeal is made unto all the Apostles and for the Corinthians Galatian c. S. Paul particularly cared But after the Decease of the Apostles or a Failure of the Apostolical Infallible Guidance by other means the Controversies that arose in any Church became determined by the Common Counsel and Advice of other Churches either by their Letters or by a solemn Discussion and Debate in an Assembly of Bishops and Elders in Provincial Councils We do not read indeed of any Rule for this Practice but the Light of Nature or Common Reason directed it and there was something too that did lead unto it in the first Assembly at Ierusalem For as the Apostles and Elders were appealed unto by them of Antioch so the whole Church was convented and the Business considered and debated by the whole and by the whole resolved In sum the Churches of Christ in this separate State subsisted by themselves like so many little Republicks as being only in the World but not of it and therefore concerned not themselves in any Business with the Secular Powers And yet seeing their Members were Men as well as others and in the World as well as others and consequently liable to Passions and Misgovernment to Common Accidents of Providence and to Differences too arising in Worldly Matters it was absolutely necessary that some Provision should be made in all these Respects in the Church it self by Officers on purpose or else since there was no other Remedy all would run to Confusion Hence as the Ancient Christians had Deacons for the Poor so they had Wisemen as the Apostle calls them or Elders who to prevent the Scandal of their going to Law before the Heathen determined Matters by way of Arbitration and likewise restrained and suppressed exorbitant and evil Manners by censuring them Out of the Church to provide for the Poor to end Controversies between Man and Man and to punish evil doing was the Business of the Magistrate And this reminds me of the Third State of the Church when Magistrates and Powers becoming Christians the Christian Religion was taken by them into Civil Protection and became incorporated into the Laws as that of Israel was into theirs so that now States became Churches a State professing Christianity being a National Church and a National Church nothing but a Christian Nation in a Word a Holy Commonwealth Great was the Alteration that was made in the Government and Face of the Church in this Condition from what it was before for after the time that Emperours became Christian and that they shewed Kindness to the Church the Hierarchy became a Secular thing it being in this State that That and the Power of Councils attained to their full Growth but yet in several Countries by several Steps and Occasions Lavius in his Commentary of the Roman Commonwealth lib. 1. fol. 22. tells us That the Episcopal Diocesses of the Christian Religion do by many very great Tokens represent the Roman Antiquity and well he might for it is plain the Form of Civil Administration after the Roman Empire became Christian and in some degrees before was imitated in the Church and that both in the Provinces and Bounds of the Empire and in the City it self For as the Roman Empire was divided into several Pretories which Pretories were called Pretorian Diocesses or Sees and these Pretories again were subdivided into Provinces and that in every Pretory there was a Prefect of the Pretory who resided in the Metropolis called Sedes prima to administer and rule the Diocess and under the Prefect in the several Provinces there were other Principal Officers called Presidents to rule and govern them So in the Church there were the Metropolitan Primates or Archbishops who were seated in the Metropolis or Capital Cities and answered to the Prefects of the Pretories and there were Bishops that resided in the Inferious Citie who were called Suffragan Bishops and those resembled the Presidents of the Provinces l and the Parallel holds out further since a Person as Ioseph Scaliger observes might be a Bishop with Archiepiscopal Ornaments and yet not be an Archbishop in like manner as one might be an Officer with Consular Ornaments and yet not be a Consul The same Scaliger in his Epistles hb. 2. ep 184. also acquaints us That in the Time of Constantine the Great there were four Prefects of pretories the Prefect of the Pretorium of Constantionople the Illirian Prefect the Prefect of the Pretorium of Rome and the Prefect of the Pretorium in the Gallia Adding that seeing the Prefect of the Pretorium was of the same Degree that at this Day a Vice-Roy is he had under him Vicars and the Vicar he saith was the Governour of a Diocess or one that had under him a whole Diocess and a Diocess was a Government that contained under it several Metropolies or Capital Cities as a Metropolis had under it several Cities He further adds That the
Ecclesiastical Bishop of a Diocess who was in the same degree with an Imperial Vicar was called by the Greeks a Patriarch and among the Latines was a Primate of Primates as the Bishop of Vienna who had under him two Primates the Primate of Aquitain and the Primate of Narbona Igitur saith Scaliger codem ordine gradu Patriarchs quo Vicarius praefectus Imperatoris uterque enim Diaecosios est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Canones loquintur ille 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And says Barlaam and indeed the whole Greek Church the Deference and Respect that was rendred to the See of Rome by the Fathers was so in this regard and only in this because that City was the principal Seat of the Empire Mr. Thorndick in his Book De rat jure fin controv c. 22. agrees in this Sentiment and is very particular Regiminis forma saith he quam in Imperium à Constantino introductam diximus in praefectorum praetorio potestate Iuris dicundi supremo loco à principali sita fuit Nam praefecto praetorio Galliarum suber at Galliarum Vicarius qui Treviris sedebat Vicarius Hispaniarum qui ut videtur Tarracone Vicarius Britannarum qui Eboraci proprerea enim concilio Arelatensi primus subscribit Eboracensis c. The sense of which I find in Dr. Stilling fleet now Bishop of Worcester when he says in his Rational Account part 2. ch 5. f. 394 395. For our better understanding the Force and Effect of this Nicene Canon we must cast our Eye a little upon the Civil Disposition of the Roman Empire by Constantine then lately altered from the former Disposition of it under Augustus and Adrian He therefore distributed the Administration of the Government of the Roman Empire under four Praefecti Praetorio but for the more convenient Management of it the whole Body of the Empire was cast into several Jurisdictions containing many Provinces within them which were in the Law called Diocesses over every one of which there was appointed a Vicarius or Lieutenant to one of the Praefecti Praetorio whose Residence was in the chief City of the Diocess where the Pretorium was and Justice was administred to all within that Diocess and thither Appeals were made under these were those Pro-consuls or Correctores who ruled in the particular Provinces and had their Residence in the Metropolis of it under whom were the particular Magistrates of every City Now according to this Disposition of the Empire the Western Parts of it contained in it seven of these Diocesses as under the Praefectus Praetorio Galliarum was the Diocess of Gaul which contained seventeen Provinces The Diocess of Britain which contained five afterwards but three in Constantine's Time the Diocess of Spain seven Under the Praefectus Praetorio Italiae was the Diocess of Africa which had six Provinces the Diocess of Italy whose seat was Millain seven the Diocess of Rome ten Under the Praefectus Praetorio Illyrici was the Diocess of Illyricum in which were seventeen Provinces In the Eastern Division were the Ciocess of Thrace which had six Provinces the Diocess of Pontus eleven and so the Diocess of Afia the Oriental properly so called wherein Antioch was fifteen All which were under the Praefectus Praetorio Orientis The Aegyptian Diocess which had six Provinces was under the Praefectus Augustalis in the time of Theodosius the elder Illyricum was divided into two Diocesses the Eastern whose Metropolis was Thessalonica and had eleven Provinces the Western whose Metropolis was Syâ—mium and had six Provinces According to this Division of the Empire we may better understand the Affairs and Government of the Church which was modelled much after the same way unless where Ancient Custom or the Emperour's Edict did cause any variation For as the Cities had their Bishops so the Provinces had their Archbishops and the Diocesses their Primates whose Jurisdiction extended as far as the Diocess did and as the Convenius Iuridici were kept in the Chief City of the Diocess for Matters of Civil Judicature so the Chief Ecclesiastical Councils for the Affairs of the Church were to be kept there too for which there is an express Passage in the Codex of Theodosius whereby Care is taken that the same Course should be used in Ecclesiastical which was in Civil Matters so that such things which concerned them should be heard in the Synod of the Diocess This Adjustment of the Church to the Civil State in those times might happily be furthered by a Consideration That even in the first and best there was something that resembled it for what the Apostles Paul and Barnabas are said to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every Church Titus when he did the same is said to do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every City as if to ordain Presbyters in every Church and to do it in every City was but one thing and that Churches at that Time were only settled in Cities and but one Church in one City as indeed at first before the enlarging and spreading of Christianity it seems to have been ordâ—narily But whatever induced it it is certain that Christian Emperours and Kings particularly the famous Constantine and Charles the Great did out of a pious Zeal incorporate the Church into the State strengthen it with Laws and accomodate it and conform it but yet so that notwithstanding that Incorporation the two Jurisdictions were still kept too much divided the Church had Officers of its own linked each to other by a mutual Dependance Courts of its own and Councils of its own too as well as the State I say too much divided for as it is true That the Church at first did hold its Politick Administration in some subordination unto Emperours and Kings that these both called and directed Councils gave Investiture to Bishops and at last claimed Homage from them And that Archbishops that received their Palls from the Pope did yet receive their Ferulae the Ensigns of their Jurisdiction from the Emperours so tho' this were something it seems however to have been an Errour in the first Projectors that they made not this Subordination and Dependance greater since by this Omission Empires and Kingdoms were in a manner put into a State of War by setting up in them divided separate Jurisdictions I acknowledg the Errour though great and pardonable only to the Zeal and unexperience of the Times remained undiscovered for a while to wit till the Church had found its own Legs but then changing Tenure and claiming Iure Divim the Hierarchy began to strike at the Heads of those who had raised and exalted it and then Emperours and Kings themselves must be bearded and threatned too on all Occasions with the Spiritual Sword by Men who but for the Temporal might still have lived upon Alms. In fine the Kingdom and Priesthood every where contended for Superiority and not a Government but had its Guelfs and its Gibellines and then
no wonder if Iure divino for the most part did carry the point especially before the Reformation This Error was the less Excusable because it was a departure from the great and in truth the only Example of a Holy Kingdom which such pious Politicians could propose to themselves I mean that of the Hebrews in which though matters that were purely mattes of Religion were distinguisht from matters purely Civil the matters of God from the matters of the King yet the Jurisdictions that related to them were not Divided the same Senate only in distinct Capacities as it was composed of Fathers as well as of Priests and Levites so it had the Cognizance of all matters nothing distinguished the Court in respect of the Two kinds of Causes Religious and Secular but that it had two Presidents which possibly were to take the Chair as the nature of the Cause required Amâ—ziah was over them in matters of the Lord and Zebadiah in matters of the King and all by an Authority and Power derived from the King as Sovereign and Supream in all Moreover in Ierusalem did Iehosaphat set c. In truth the Church having submitted to receive Incorporation into the Civil State or being favoured with it for you may take it either way it was no longer obliged to continue a Divided Separate Jurisdiction for the Reason of the Churches separate Jurisdiction now failing the Magistrate being become Christian and consequently Ayding the Jurisdiction that it had before must fail with it and so revert to the Magistrate And Reason good it should and that by a reason taken even from the nature of Government for there ought to be and indeed there can be but one Spring and Fountain of Jurisdiction in one Kingdom and Government Besides Ecclesiastical Government cannot reach but to the External Actions of Men and therefore is very improperly called Spiritual since it is not Internal and the External Actions of Men as such do properly come under the Cognisance of the Magistrate he being ordained to be the Avenger of all evil doing as well as for the praise of them that do well and then nothing can remain for the Church to do unless the same Actions must be subjected to the Cognisance of divided unsubordinate Jurisdictions which should they be would breed a great Confusion which I must insist upon and be a great Injustice Breed great Confusion for that a Person in the same Cause should be absolved by one Jurisdiction and be condemned by another and this without any means of Composure for Example that he should be acquitted at the Assizes by Twelve of the Neighbourhood and yet be Convicted in the Bishops Court which may well happen where the Jurisdictions are divided and then no means is left neither of any Composure if they are also unsubordinated this is Confusion As that he should be twice Condemned and punish'd twice for one Fact would be great Injustice As for single Congregations they are only as so many little Fraternities Gilds or Corporations and consequently may have Constitutions and By-Laws of their own as these have without the least danger or other prejudice that can be thought of to the States that permit or protect them Certainly the Kingdom of Christ the true Hierarchy is a Kingdom that is not Secular or of this World that is it is not an External but a Spiritual Kingdom a Power erected in the Hearts and Consciences of Men in which he Rules and Governs by his Word and Spirit and therefore it doth not it cannot as such pretend to any Jurisdiction properly so called there being no Jurisdiction properly so called without Coercion and Compulsion and Coercion and Compulsion is a way that is not used by Christ. All the Subjects of Christ are Volunteers and Freemen whom as he brings into his Kingdom so he keeps in it only by Perswasions Exhortations Counsels and such like Methods And this Tertullian believed who in L. ad Scap. says Humani Iuris naturalis est unicuique quod put averit colere nec aliis aut obest aut predest alterius religio sed nec religonis est cogere religionem quae Sponte suscipi debeat non vi c. It is the first and chief right of humane nature for every man to worship what he thinks he ought nor does the Religion of one either hurt or profit another nor can it be any Religion to Compel Religion Religion ought to be taken up of Choice and not by force or constraint c. So far gone was that Father for Liberty of Conscience However it must be confessed That if any Persons refuse to observe the Rules of Christian Society and particularly the Rules of that Society of which they are Members it is but reason that they should leave it and if otherwise they will not that they be constrained to leave it But this by the by To be sure the Essential Church hath no one Form of External Government assigned to it in the whole and it was as great wisdom not to settle any in particular for National Churches for seeing the Church must be Extended into all Nations the Government and Policy of it must be of a nature either Ambulatory so as to be accommodated upon Occasion or it must be such an one as without interfering with them can consist with all the several Forms of Civil and Secular Government In my Judgment the Lord Bacon speaks excellently well to this matter when he says I for my part do confess That in revolving the Scriptures I could never find any such thing as one Form of Discipline in all Churches and that imposed by necessity of a Commandment and Prescript out of the Word of God but that God had left the like liberty to the Church-Government as he had done to the Civil Government to be varied according to Time and Place and Accidents which nevertheless his high and Divine Providence doth order and dispose for all Civil Governments are restrained from God to the several Grounds of Justice and Manners but the Policies and Forms of them are left free so that Monarchies and Kingdoms Senates and Signories Popular States and Communalties are lawful and where they are planted ought to be maintained inviolate So likewise in Church matters the substance of Doctrin is immutable and so are the General Rules of Government but for Rites and Ceremonies and for the particular Hierarchies Policies and Discipline of Churches they be left at large and therefore it is good we return unto the Ancient bounds of Unity in the Church of God which was one Faith one Baptism and not one Hierarchy one Discipline and that we observe the League of Christians as it is penned by our Saviour which is in substance of Doctrin thus He that is not with us is against us but of things indifferent and of Circumstance he that is not against us is with us Bacon's Considerations touching Pacification in Resuscit fol. 237 238 This
the Bishops only to their ordinary and lawful Jurisdiction Invest them in any new or any that is unlawful at the Common Law or that is contrary to the Prerogative of our Kings All that I have said on this Occasion might receive a further Confirmation were there need of more by the famed Character of King Kenulphus made to the Abbot of Abington in which was a grant of Exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction as there also was in that of King Off a made to the Monastry of S. Albans by the Title of King Edgar who stiled himself Vicar of God in Ecclesiasticals by the Offering that Wolstan made of his Staff and Ring the Ensigns of his Episcopacy at the Tomb of Edward the Confessor by the Petition of the Archbishop and Clergy at the Coronation of our Kings by the form of the King 's Writ for Summoning a Convocation and of the Royal Licence that is commonly granted before the Clergy and Convocation can go upon any particular Debates In fine by the Statutes relating to Excommunication that do both direct and limit the Execution of that Censure and the proceedings upon it as to Capias's c. And thus much for Church-Government in the Third State of the Church as it is become incorporated by Civil Powers In discoursing of which I have made it plain That as no National Draught is of our Lord Christ's or his Apostles designing so that National Churches are all of Human Institution and their Government Ambulatory that is Alterable according as Times and Occasions and as the Forms of Civil Governments in States that do incorporate the Church oblige it to be to make it fit and suitable I am SIR Your Humble Servant THE THIRD LETTER SIR I Have always acknowledged some Episcopacy to be of Primitive Antiquity but you will please to remember I have likewise shewed that that Episco pacy was Presbyterial not Prelatical Congregational not Diocesan And that the Primitive Bishop was only a first Presbyter that is a Chairman in the College of Presbyters and not as in the Diocesan Hierarchy a Prelate of a superior Order that presided over several Congregational Churches and was invested with the Power of sole Ordination and Jurisdiction much less was he an Officer that kept Courts that had under him Chancellours Commissaries Officials Registers Apparitors c. and that judged per se aut per alium in certain reserved Cases To make this out I presented to you a Scheme of the Government of the Church both as it was established and settled by the Apostles and as it was afterwards I shewed That the Apostles in all their Institutions did carefully avoid any Imitation of the Temple-Orders to which Orders the Prelatical Hierarchy doth plainly conform I shewed also That the Government settled by the Apostles was only Congregational the Apostles in planting of Churches proceeding only after the Model and Way of the Synagogues Ay! all the Churches that we read of in Scripture that were constituted by the Apostles were only Congregational not National or Provincial that is they were as so many little Republicks each consisting of a Senate or Eldership with the Authority and of a People with the Power but all independant one of another and all possessed of all that Jurisdiction and Authority over their Members that was to be standing and ordinary For this Reason tho' every Congregation was but a part and a small one yet it had the Denomination of the whole every particular Congregation was stiled a Church This will appear more evident if we consider That the Interest of the People had at first and long after for above 150 Years in the Ordination of Officers was very great It is true the Word Ordination or that which answers to it in the Greek is never used throughout the whole New Testament for the making of Evangelical Officers nor did it in this Sense come into use among Christians till after the Christian Church began to accommodate to the Language as well as to the Orders of the Jewish But then as the People was called Laity and Plebs so the Clergy was called Ordo and this in the same Sense of the Word as when we read of the Order of Aaron and of that of Melchisedeck and then too the calling of any Person to the Ministry as it was a calling of him to be of the Clergy or Order so it was stiled an Ordination Ordination being nothing but the placing of a Person in the Order of the Clergy But tho' the Word Ordination was not as yet in use in the first Times the Thing was which is the Creation of Officers in the Church and in this the People possess'd so great a share which is a very good Argument of the Church's being framed at first after the Model and Way of Republicks that even the Action it self is called Chirotonia by S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and ever since by the Greek Fathâ—rs Ay the Creation of Officers is not usually called Chirothesia for this with the Greek Fathers was the Word that was mostly if not always used for Confirmation not for Ordination tho' Imposition of Hands the Ceremony signified by that Word was the Rite which was used by the Jews in creating of Rabbies and Doctors the Act of Ordination is usually if not always denominated Chirotonia or Extension of Hands which in the Greek Republicks was the Name or Word for the Popular Suffrage Indeed Paul and Barnabas are said to Chirotonize or as our Translators render the Word Acts 14. 23. To ordain them Elders in every Church But says Mr. Harrington they are said to do so but in the same Sense that the Proedri who were Magistrates to whom it belonged to put the Question in the Representative of the People of Athens are in Demosthenes said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the Suffrage and the Thesmothetae who were Presidents in the Creation of Magistrates are in Pollux said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to chirotonize the Strategi who yet ever since the Institution of Cliethenes that distributed the People into ten Tribes were always used to be elected and made by the Popular Suffrage Nor was this manner of Speaking peculiar unto the Greeks but as Calvin in his Institutions l. 4. c. 4. f. 15. observes it was a common Form used also by the Roman Historians who say That the Consul created Officers when he only presided at the Election and gathered the Votes of the People Et c'est uniforme commune de parler comme les Historiens disent quun Consul creoit des Officiers quand il recevoit le voix du peuple presedoit sur l' election So plain it is that S. Luke in saying that Paul and Barnabas did chirotonize the Elders intended to signifie no more but that the Elders were made by the Suffrage of the People Paul and Barnabas presiding at the Election and declaring or making the Crisis and so the New Latin Translation in
Quid â—usâ—quâ—m meâ—â—nit exortis iliius Episcoporum auctoritais quae Ecclesiae Consuetudine post Marci mortem Alex nâ—â—iae atque â—o Exemplo alibi introduci coepit sed-plaâ—è ut Paulus Apostolus ostendit Ecclesias Communi Prisbyteroâ—um qui iidem omnes Episcopi ipsi Pauloque dicuntur Consiâ—io â—uisse Gubenatas That Clement no where makes any mention in his Epistle of that Eminent Authority of Bishops that by the Custom of the Church began when Mark was dead to be introduced at Alexaâ—dâ—ia and after that Example in other places but he plainly shews as the Apostle Paul also does that the Churches were then governed by the Common Council of the Elders all of which are stiled Bishops by him as well as by S Paul By what I have said you may see how little Satisfaction I received in the Proofs you gave me of the early distinction between Bishops and Presbyters for none of them do reach home unto the First Age and to the Dâ—ocesan Prelatical Bishop and if they did would move me but little For as for Tertullian he more than seems to be on my side when speaking of the Christian Congregations both as to their Discipline and Government and to their Worship he says Praesident probati quique seniores Hon remistum non pretio sed Testimonio adepti That the Presbyters have the Rule and Government in them As for Clemens Alexandrinus his Imitations of the Angelical Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which you do imagine you have found the orders of the Celestial Hierarchy imitated in the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon this is but a Flourish of Rhetorick in that Father who though in his Pedagogue he speaks of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons as also of Widows yet in his Stromata Lib. 6. 7. where he treats of the Ecclesiastical Orders more at large he mentions but Two the Presbyters and Deacons and plainly intimates that the Bishop was only a Presbyter honoured with the first Seat But I am much surprized at your Citation of the Emperor Adrian his Epistle to Servianus recorded by Phlegon and related by Vopiscus for certainly it appears by that Epistle that Adrian had but little Acquaintance with the Egyptian Christians and then his Authority is of as little moment or else these Christians were of the worst of Men for he represents them as well as the other Inhabitants of Egypt to be a most seditious vain and most Injurious sort of Men and particularly says That those which Worship Serapis were Christians and that the Bishops of Christ were devoted unto Serapis He adds That the very Patriarch Ipse ille Patriarcha coming into Egypt was constrained of some to Worship Serapis and others to Worship Christ. Was ever any thing more virulently said of Christians and indeed more mistakingly for as for the Devotion of their Bishops to Serapis I cannot imagine any occasion that these Christians should give which with any Colour should render them suspected of that Idolatry but their Signing with the Sign of the Cross and this might it being a way of professing Christianity that at that Time was newly become the Mode and probably it had the Fate of New Modes which is to be approved of by some and be rejected and nick-named of others I am the more inclined to think that this Story of Serapis had some relation to the Christian Bishops who signed with the Sign of the Cross because I find in Pignorius in his Exposition of the Mensa Isaica that Serapis was used to be denoted by a Cross Vrceo says he superne infixa Crux Serapidem notat And says Rhodiginus Lect. ant l. 10. c. 8 9. figuram ejusmodi speaking of the Cross Serapidis pectori insculpâ—bant Egypâ—ii Adding out of Suidas That in the time of the Emperour Theodosius when the Temples of the Greeks were destroyed there were found in the Sacrary of Serapis certain Hieroglyphic Letters which resembled a Cross. But to let this pass I see no cogency in the Citation you make from the Emperour Adrian to evidence any such Distinction between a Bishop and a Presbyter to have been in that time as is in ours and as you do plead for for in that Epistle there is only the Name of Bishop and Presbyter without any specification of Office signified by it either as to its Nature or Limits aâ—d possibly some will tell you That by the Coherence of tâ—e Epistle it is not so clear but that Adrian might intend the same Officers by Bishop and Presbyter But I have no list to engage in such a Dispute and therefore hasten to tell you what is above any that I am SIR Your Humble Servant THE SECOND LETTER SIR I Expected that as I had essayed to set out a Scheme of Church-Government and such a one as I believed and do still believe to have been the Primitive and Original and of Apostolical Institution so you likewise would have given a Scheme according to your Sentiments and then by Comparing Scheme with Scheme and each with the Account of the Scriptures and other undoubted Accounts of the first Century we might at last come to have made a surer Judgment which was the Right and which the Wrong than now in the parcelling and retailing way you take it is possible to do Indeed to gain a true Light into the Nature and Frame of Church-Government in the whole extent of it one ought to distinguish the several States and Circumstances in which the Church hath been and accordingly consider the several Orders which were in it in those several States and the Grounds and Reasons of those several Orders Now the Church I speak of the Catholick or Evangelical Church may be considered either as it was a Constituting before it had received External Form and Shape as to Orders Or after it was Constituted and that the Apostles who had not only received Instructions from their Master what to do in things pertaining to the Kingdom of God but were likewise invited by the concidence of Events had put their last Hand unto it Again the Church after its being Constituted and Clothed with Orders undergoes a Double Consideration for it may be considered either as it subsisted and stood alone singly in a State of Separation from Secular Governments of the World or as it is united to them by the Laws and Ordinances that in several Countries are several which they have enacted and established about it Whosoever considers the Church whilst constituting before it had received its external Form and Orders ought at the same time to acknowledg That of necessity there must be persons to constitute it and cloth it with these Orders which persons if vested with Authority so to do are properly Officers but yet in that performance cannot be conceived to be or act as ordinary Officers these being permanent and standing and belonging to the Church as constituted whereas that Office had its place before the Constitution of the Church as being
ordained to constitute it This Office as I evinced in my former Paper appertained to the Apostles it being their Work to lay the Foundation of the Christian Church by preaching the Doctrin of Christ as true upon their own Knowledg and consequently making Believers or Disciples which was to gather the Church as also by instituting of Officers and giving Rules about them which was to put the Church under Orders and to settle its Government On this Account the Church is said to be built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and the New Jerusalem the City of God or the Evangelical Church in its most reformed State is described in the Revelations to have twelve Foundations answering to the twelve Apostles who by the Doctrin which they preached and witnessed and the Order which they setled did indeed lay the Foundation of the Christian Church and set it on foot It is true the Evangelists as well as the Apostles were in part at least the Founders of particular Churches But the Apostles only with the Prophets have the Honour of being stiled Founders of the Church these being the only persons that were commissioned by our Lord Christ for that end He immediately sending and directing his Apostles but these sending and directing the Evangelists who are therefore called by some and not unfitly Apostoli Secondarii Apostles of the Second Order So that I do distinguish between the Founding of the Church which was done by the Apostles only and that of particular Churches which was performed by the Evangelists as well as by the Apostles By the Church which for distinction sake I call Essential to discriminate it from particular Constituted Churches I mean nothing but the whole Multitude or Company of the Faithful as they are united to Christ and hold Communion with him as well as one with another by one Common Faith and by the participation of the Holy Spirit And of this Church all that do believe in and make a true Profession of Christ though as yet they are not ranked in any particular one are Members and have their several Uses according to the Measure of the Dispensation given them from which Measure some are Principal and some are less Principal Members He gave some Apostles and some Prophets c. This Essential Church though it is a kind of a Body Society and City yet it is not a Secular Politick Body I mean not a Body united in it self under one External Visible Head by any Universal Politick Orders and Dependencies that run throughout it such as are in Secular Governments whether Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical to make them one But it is a Spiritual Mystical Body a Body united unto Christ the Head by the Spirit of Faith and Love under the Laws and Rules of Christianity a Religion which obliges all its Members to Communion one with another as much as is possible for mutual Edification and Comfort Could all the Members of the Christian Church have held Communion one with another and ordinarily have met together for the Discharge of Common Duties and Offices and all have been subject unto one External Government common to them there would still have been but one Congregation of them as there was at first and consequently but one Church as to External Orders But the Christian Church in the nature of it being Catholick and Univers◠that is not walled in and confined by distinguishing Rites and Customs as the Jewish was unto a particular People but lying in common to all Nations as much as unto any so that such External Communion and Government was absolutely impracticable in the whole as taken together therefore it was necessary that it should be practised as indeed it was only by Parts each of which Parts was to bear the Denomination of the Whole as being the whole in Little This is the Original of particular Churches in reference to which Churches it may be observed That as the Jewish Church which some call the Synagogue was founded in a Nation so the Christian Church eminently stiled the Church was founded in a particular Assembly the Mother Church at Ierusalem was only a single Congregation It was for the former Reason as well as for others that the Apostles when they instituted Church-Government did not give any General Scheme that should relate to the Catholick Church as to an External Body or to Provincial or to National Churches but they only setled Particular Churches as Homogenecal Parts of the Whole And these in this Order That as the whole Church was a free People that had not one only but many Apostles who by the Original Institution were to take the Care of it so in every particular Church which was to be a Vicinage under Orders or a Company of Professing People that could conveniently meet together for the Discharge of Christian Offices there should be not one only but many Presbyters a College of Presbyters answering to the College of the Apostles who should Rule and Govern but as over a Free People and therefore in all material Businesses with their Approbation and Suffrage Thus in the Mother-Church at Ierusalem besides the Apostles which were Extraordinary there was a Senate or College of Elders as the ordinary standing Officers and these with the whole Church or Body of the People and Brethren are convented upon the Business of Antioch And thus the Apostles Paul and Barnabas every where in every Church or Congregation are said to have established a Senate or Presbyters and that too by the Suffrage or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the People So that the Original Government of the Church of Apostolical Institution was only Congregational which Congregational Government consisted of the People or Brethren and of the Presbyters or Senate in which Senate he that presided tho' in process of Time he was called Bishop by appropriation of the Name which all the Presbyters enjoyed at first in Common yet in the Original Institution he was no more than the first-named Presbyter and so no otherwise distinguished in it than as Peter was in the Institution of the College of the Apostles who is still first named in it And such a Bishop I do acknowledg to have been from great Antiquity namely a Congregational Bishop that had the first Direction of Matters a Person that was Primus Presbyter a Presbyter only in Order and the first of that Order in the College of Presbyters But a Diocesan Bishop invested with the Power of sole Ordination and Jurisdiction and he a Suffragan too for this is the Bishop that is in Controversie between us this Bishop you must prove if you can and nothing is done if you do not prove him to be Apostolical Sure I am that S. Cyprian considered himself but as a first Presbyter and therefore as his Name for the Bishop is always prepositus in respect of the People So he calls the Presbyters his Compresbyters Ep. l. 4. ep 8. Ques ed primitivum Compresbyterum nostrum Et
resolved at last into the Testimony and Witness of those who had reâ—ived it from Christ and those particularly whose Office it was to transmit it â—to others and to Vouch it So that in this respect the Case is particular the â—peal was made unto the Apostles and Elders or old Disciples as those â—o having conversed with our Lord had immediately received the Christian â—trin from him which Reason for the Appeal was Peculiar to those Persons â—made and received it and therefore can be none for others taken either in the private or in representative Capacities Further there is something else in this business that was very peculiar I know it is affirmed That the Holy Ghost did assist in this Assembly in a special manner and that the same Assistance and Guidance is promised to all others that convene in Christ's Name either for the Decision of Controversies or for Government of the Church and that any Synod lawfully called and proceeding lawfully may say in their Decrees as the Apostles and Elders and Church do hear It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us I acknowledge them very learned and worthy Men that think so but I must beg their Pardon if I differ from them for with Submission I conceive that the Phrase It seemed good to the Holy Ghost hath no Relation to any Assistance and Guidance of the Holy Ghost that was afforded by any Extraordlnary Illumination of Mind to them that met on that occasion and so it makes nothing for Infallible Direction in Council Rather it relates unto the Decision which the Holy Ghost in Effect had already made of that Controversie by his Descending upon some of the Gentiles who had believed in Christ as Peter preached him without any mention of Moses or of his Law Acts 10. from 34. to 45. For it was the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the believing Gentiles who were Strangers to the Law A Descent that was not transacted immediately by the laying on of the Hands of any Apostles but was an Immediate Descent such an one as that was which had been made before upon the Apostles themselves on the day of Pentecost It was this Descent that being a sealing of them by the Holy Ghost Ephes. 1. 13. was urged by the Apostle Peter as an Argument against the Imposition of the Mosaical Yoke which Argument was confirmed and strengthened by Barnabas and Paul and at last by Iames who doth not give a Difinitive Sentence as the Translation carries it and you somewhere say but only gives his Judgment And this in fine did carry the matter so that it is evident that no Council Synod or Assembly of Men may say It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us in their Decisions as the Apostles and Elders did and because they did if that Council Synod or Assembly has not such a particular Manifestation of the Holy Ghost to bottom their Decisions as the Apostles and Elders had when the Apostles and Elders said It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us they meant it seemed good to the Holy Ghost by his Descent and to themselves upon full Debate But to return The Church wilest it stood in its State of Separation from Secular Government must be considered to have been in a Double Condition the first while the Apostles were living who as they had an Extraordinary Charge so they had a proportionable power over all the Church the second after the decease or other removal of the Apostles when the Church was left to it self for in these different Circumstances the proceedings were very different both as to the punishing of Offenders and to the ending of Controversies Whilst the Apostles who had an Extraordinary and Supernatural Rod were living and in a Condition to use that Rod as there needed no other Discipline but that to terrifie flagitious and great Offenders so I find no other used and that too but rarely the greater Excommunication had no place that I can find unless where Diotrephes ruled in that State of the Church Besides the Apostolical Rod it was only Non conversing with or abstaining from the Society of Offenders that was used as a Remedy for the Reducing of them and this by Apostolical Order Indeed the Apostles were not so much for cutting off from the Church as for inviting and calling Men into it The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a Dragnet But after the Decease or other removal of the Apostles when the terrour of their Rod was vanished and when God himself did no longer as at first he seem'd to have done in Extraordinary manner particularly punish for particular Sins as in the Case of the Corinthians For this cause many are sick and weak among you c. and no Assistance could be had from the Sword of the Magistrate without Scandal in that State necessity grew upon the Church to make its Discipline straighter and more awful that so having something in it of severe and rigorous the Terrour of it might restrain and the Execution reform Hence came the Church-Covenant or voluntary Subjection which saith Lewis du Moulin is intimated by Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan in his Sacramento obstricti and says Mr. Selden by Origen contra Celsum when he spake of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Christians And hence by degrees and as occasions obliged it came to pass that Excommunications the greater and the lesser grew into use the former not so much by a positive Institution as by the Common Law of Society and the latter by Congruity to the Apostles Direction 1 Cor. 5. 11. Both which though they carryed terrour in themselves yet to add to it as the Estimate of the Privation ever doth depend upon that of the Possession Admission into the Church and consequently to the Lord's Table were practised with more Formality than in the Apostles times Now comes in a solemn Distinction of Chatechuneti and Fideles and the Candidates of Christianity must take time before them must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must pass through many Degrees before they can attain to the happiness of being admitted to a participation of the priviledges and rights of the Faithful It was now also that the Notion of a Catholick Vnity obtained which was not understood at that time to be Internal and Spiritual an Unity of Faith and Charity only But to consist in something External relating unto Order and Discipline as being an Unity that was to be maintained by Communicatory and other Letters and by Orders and that was intended to support the Notion of but one Bishoprick in the Church and that every Bishop participated of that one Bishoprick in Solidum A Notion that was of great use to make their Dicipline and Power the more pointed for if but one Church then to be cast out of any part of the Church was indeed to be ejected out of the whole and if but one Bishoprick to be participated by all the Bishops what
Sentiment of that Excellent Person will be much confirmed if we consider Church Policy but in one Important Instance the calling of Bishops for this as it has received frequent Alteration and been very different in different times and Countries so it was All upon prudential regards In Cyprian's time as in that of the Apostles it was as it were Iussu populi Authoritate Senatus by Choice of the People and appointment of other Bishops How it is now All know and in the intermediate times it has not always been after one manner but various according unto various times and occasions In short the business of Pastors and Teachers who are permanent and standing Officers in the Church of Christ is to feed the Flock by preaching and administring the Sacraments and on occasion to denounce Eternal Torments the true Spiritual Censure And this will be their business to the Worlds endâ— But for External Rule and Jurisdiction this being but accidental to their Office and arising only from the particular Circumstance in which the Church was while separate from the State now that the Magistrate is Christian it doth entirely devolve upon him the Christian Magistrate is the Ruling Presbyter and whom he appoints as Overseers of the Poor may be called the Deacons It is certain that in our English Constitution not to speak of the French and that of other Foreign Kingdoms however some may talk of Iure divino all Government or Jurisdiction the Spiritual as they call it as well as the Temporal is derived from the King who in this sense is supream Ordinary Bishop and Governour in all Causes and therefore in all Courts and Jurisdictions This is evident both as to the Legislative part of the Government and to the strictly Jurisdictive for as my Author tells me out of the British Councils All the Church Laws in the time of the Saxons were made in the Micklemote And indeed it were easie to evince that most of the Ancient Synods and Councils in England as well as in other Countries were meer Parliaments As for the Consistory Court which every Archbishop and the Bishop of the Diocess hath as holden before his Chancellor or Commissary this seems not to have been divided from the Hundred or County Court before a Mandate was given to that purpose by William the Conqueror the Exemplification of which Mandate is in Mr. Dugdale in his Appendix ad Hist. Eccles. Cathol St. Pauli f. 196. Before the Normans entrance says Mr. Dugdale from Sir H. Spelman the Bishops sate in the Hundred Court with the Lord of the Hundred as he did in the County Court with the Earls in the Sheriffs Turn with the Sheriff But to set out the matter by more Authentick Records In the Statute of Provisors it is affirmed That the Church of England was founded in the State of Prelacy by Edward the First Grand-father to Edward the Third and his Progenitors And in 25th of Henry the Eighth Chap. 19. in the Submission of the Clergy these acknowledge as they say according to Truth That the Convocation of the same Clergy is always hath been and ought to be Assembled only by the King 's Writ and farther promise in Verbo Sacerdoâ—is that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure enact promulge or exact any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or other or by whatsoever name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may to them be had to make promulge and exact the same and that his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf And it was then enacted That the King should at his pleasure assign and nominate 32 Persons of his Subjects whereof 16. to be of the Clergy and 16 of the Temporality of the upper and lower House of Parliament who should have Power and Authority to view search and examine the Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal heretofore made and with his Majesty's Assent under his Great Seal to continue such as they judge worthy to be kept and to abolish and abrogate the residue which they shall Judge and Deem worthy to be abolished It was also provided in the same Act That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrary to the King's Prerogative Royal or to the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm there the Ecclesiastical Legislation is subjected to the King And enacted That it shall be lawful for any Party grieved in any of the Courts of the Archbishops of this Realm to appeal to the King's Majesty in the Court of Chancery upon which Appeal a Commission is to be directed under the Great Seal to Persons named by the King his Heirs or Successors which Commissioners have full power to hear and finally determine upon such Appeal And here the Jurisdiction of the Church is acknowledged to be originally in the King and derived from him for there the Sovereign Supream Power lodges where the last appeal the last Resort is Add that in the first Year of Edward VI. in an Act entituled An Act for Election of Bishops it was enacted That none but the King by his Letters Patents shall collate to any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick It was also declared That the use of Archbishops and Bishops and other Spiritual Persons to make and send out Summons in their own names was contrary to the form and order of the Summons and Process of the Common Law used in this Realm seeing that All Authority of Jurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal is derived and deducted from the King's Majesty as Supream Head of these Churches and Realms of England and Ireland and so Justly acknowledged by the Clergy of the said Realms It was therefore enacted That all Courts Ecclesiastical within the said Two Realms be kept by no other Power or Authority either Foreign or within this Realm but by the Authority of the King's Majesty and that all Summons and Citations and other Process Ecclesiastical be made in the name and with the Style of the King as it is in his Writs Original and Judicial at the Common Law And it is further enacted That all manner of Persons that have the Excercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall have the King's Arms in their Seals of Office c. This Act was passed in a Parliament of the Profession of the Church of England in 1 Eward 6th and though it were repealed by one of another Character in 1 Mariae yet this repealing Statue being again repealed in 1st of Iames 1. 25. it seems plain that that of the first Year of Edward the Sixth is revived But supposing it is not yet in that case though the Constitutive part remain void the Declarative will still stand good as shewing the Common Law Nor doth the late Act of 13 Car. 2. ch 12. that restored
one Church and therefore that Titus may be a Bishop of the Cretians all the Churches of Crete must be Consolitated into one else among all the Churches in Crete I would fain know which was the Church of the Cretians where Titus resided If Titus was Bishop over all the Churches in Crete he was a Bishop of Bishops and at least a Metropolitan which indeed would be most in favour of the Hierarchy could it be Evidenced But this could not be the settlement that was made in Crete For it would be strange that the Apostle should appoint a Hierarchy in Crete that should differ from the form of Government setled upon the Continent by himself and Barnabas who constituted Elders in every Church without appointing that we read of any Superiour Bishop or Metropolitan that should have a General Care and Inspection over the several Churches For my part I could not see how Titus should understand his Commission which was to ordain Elders in every City to carry any other Intention with reference to Crete than the very same words do when they are used to signifie what Paul himself who gave him this Commission had done upon the Continent where he and Barnabas ordained Elders in every Church And therefore as Paul and Barnabas established single Congregations only and Organized them with Elders and then left them to govern themselves by their own Intrinsick powers So in the like manner Titus established Churches in every City and Organized them with Elders which having done it is very probable that he returned again unto S. Paul to give an account of his Commission Thus Titus his business in Crete has the very Idea and Signature of that of an Evangelist or a Secundary Apostle without the least Mark of an ordinary Bishop nor is there any hint in all the Authentick Scriptures of his being ordained Bishop of Crete or indeed of any place else And the like must be said of Timothy with reference to Ephesus who was sent to the Church there as a Visitor only with Apostolical Authority and so as S. Paul's Delegate Nor it Titus his ordaining of Elders a good Argument for sole Ordination for the word Tit. 1. 5. is the same that is used in Acts 6. 3. in the matter of the Deacons who were appointed by the Apostles not one of the Apostles but all and chosen by the People And one might well admire that the same word which is Translated appointed in one place should be rendred ordained in another but that Titus is said to ordain and not to appoint only that it might look as if there were a plain Text for sole Ordination But what if Timothy and Titus had a power of sole Jurisdiction and a power too of making Canons for the Government of the Church which latter yet is an Authority that every Bishop will not pretend unto after their Example The Church then was in a State of Separation from Secular Government and among Heathen just as the Jews are now among Christians so that all it could do at that time was to perswade it could not compel And therefore it will not follow now that the Church is protected and not only protected by but Incorporated into the State that the Officers of it must have the same powers and Exercise them in the same manner as before or as Mr. Selden expresses it That England must be Governed as Ephesus or Crete It is certain that Kings would gain but little by the Bargain not to say they must depart with their Sovereignty to Incorporate the Christian Religion should this be admitted that Church-Authority Church-Power must be still the same after such Incorporation as before For a separate National Jurisdiction Exercised by one or many is a Solecism in State especially if it claim by the Title of Iure divino a Title that renders it Independent upon as well as unboundable and uncontroulable by all that is human Such a Jurisdiction would weaken that of Kings and other States All their Subjects would be but half Subjects and many none at all and it is no more nor less but that very same thing that heretofore was found so inconvenient and burden some under the Papacy and that made the best and wisest and greatest of our Kings so uneasie A Clergy imbodied within it self and independent on the State is in a Condition of being made a powerful Faction upon any Occasion and easie to be practised upon as being united under one or a few Heads who can presently convey the Malignity to all their Subordinates and these to the People So that I lay it down as a Maxim that nothing can be of greater danger to any Government than a National Hierarchy that does not depend upon it or is not in the Measures and Interests of it Fresh Experience has learned us this I know not with what Design it was said by Padre Paulo Sarpio of Venice but his Words are very remarkable as I find them cited from an Epistle of his to a Counsellor of Paris in the Year 1609. I am afraid says he in the behalf of the English of that great power of Bishops though under a King I have it in Suspicion when they shall meet with a King of that goodness as they will think it easie to work upon him or shall have any Archbishop of an high Spirit the Royal Authority shall be wounded and Bishops will aspire to an Absolute Domination Methinks I see a Horse Sadled in England and I guess that the old Rider will get on his Back But all these things depend on the Divine Providence Thus he very prudently as to the main though perhaps with some mistake as to his Conjecture For my part I think it but reason that such Persons as have the Benefit of Human Laws should in so much be guided by them and that the Sword which owns no other Edge but what the Magistrate gives it should not be used but by his Direction As indeed the practice in England has always been For as Mr. Selden observes Whatever Bishops do otherwise than the Law permits Westminster-Hall can controul or send them to absolve c. He also says very well That nothing has lost the Pope so much in his Supremacy as not acknowledging what Princes gave him 't is a scorn says he on the Civil Power and an unthankfulness in the Priest But adds he the Church runs to Iure divino lest if these should acknowledge what they have by positive Laws it might be as well taken from them as given to them Ay This excellent Person goes further so much further as to tell us That a Bishop as a Bishop had never any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England for as soon as he was Electus Confirmatus that is after the Three Proclamations in Bow-Church he might Exercise Jurisdiction before he was Consecrated and yet till then that he was Consecrated he was no Bishop neither could he give Orders Besides says he Suffragans were