of men and servants of their Lusts especially of those of their Patrons that thereby he might justly punish the World for not receiving the love of the truth And Particularly to punish the unlawful invasions made by the corrupt Church-men and Clergy of these times upon the civil Powers permitting them to prey on each others Rights and Priviledges Jure quasi Belli ac lege talionis till at length the whole frame of Church and state was turned to a Babel of Confusion and Egyptian Darkness And tho' the practising of such usurpations over the liberties of the Church might in a time of darkness be looked upon as a sin of Ignorance or weakness yet in such times of light as God hath set us in it must certainly be a sin of a higher nature and Degree XV. The Superstition of these times still advancing and particularly that Anti-evangelical Opinion of Merit taking daily deeper root the Clergy as they must be stiled were not a wanting to fish in these muddie Waters and to make their best use of that occasion by insinuating themselves upon weak and well meaning People especially in the time of their Sickness to make them part very liberally with their goods and possessions for the service of the Church and pious uses as they termed it And they did so terrifie them with the fears of Purgatory and Damnation for their Sins on the one hand and flatter them with the hopes of Indulgences pardon of sins and Prayers for their Souls and the honour they would acquire to themselves and their Posterity by such good Deeds on the other hand that in a short time the poor Peoples blind and superstitious zeal was screwed to such a pitch as nothing was sooner asked especially if not to take effect till after their Death than it was given So that as the Apostle sayes in a different case Gal. 4.15 they would have pluckt out their very eyes for the service of these rapacious Vultures XVI This is a Truth so incontestable that the civil Powers in the most of all Christian States found themselves under an absolute necessity to put some stop to such a Torrent of ill disposed Charity as was likely to terminate in the Settling of the whole Lands and Poslessions within their Territories In the hands of a sort of Men that depended upon a Foraign Power and pretended to an exemption and independencie from the Civil Authority of the States they lived in As among many other Instances that might be given may appear from that one Law in our own Nation prohibiting the disposal of Lands or Heritages by Persons on Death-bed XVII It is well observed by the Noble du Plessis Mornay in his mysterium iniquitatis that when the Christian Doctrine and Religion began to be corrupted in the Substance People endeavoured to cover their defection by retaining the Shadow and to seem as Religious as ever by building of Kirks Chappels c And that in Actions of this nature the worst of Men were ordinarly the most forward and devout that thereby they might obliterat the memory of their former vicious Lives and Practises both in themselves and others This is indeed a clear Paraphrase upon our Blessed Saviour's charge against the Scribes and Pharisees That they tithed the Mint and the Annise and omitted the weighter Matters of the Law Judgment Mercy Matt. 23. and Faith. XVIII Things being brought to this pass it is little wonder that the humour of building and doting of Kirks began to increase and the number of Patronages by consequence to multiply so that in a short time few Kirks or Congregations wanted some one or other for their patron And many times when Patronage could not be claimed upon the account of the building or doting of Kirks there was still some body found who under the least shadow of Reparations or otherwise and in default of all the Pope of Rome as pretending himself to be patron Supreme Paramount and Vniversal of all Kirks and since the Reformation in this Church our own Kings as coming into the Pop's place which by the way is none of the most honourable Successions assumed and usurped this Priviledge So that in a small time the Corruption was little less than universally spread XIX Before we leave this Head we may observe that as that Antichristian Church of Rome hath in most of her Institutions still endeavoured to advance her own splendor and greatness and her usurped Dominion over the Church and Consciences of God's People by an affected imitation of these interests which the Secular powers of the Earth have over the civil rights of their Subjects expresly contrare to the Precepts of our blessed Lord Luke 22. Which in this case deserve a very serious and special consideration Luke 22.25 to the 31. Matt. 20 25. so particularly this institution of Patronage hath been fixed or continued and improven to make some sort of a resemblance and parallel in the Church to that of Feudal Superiority and Vassalage in use betwixt great Men and their followers This seems to be pretty clearly intimate by the very word Beneficium which in its more proper acceptation signifies the same thing with Feudum or a grant of Lands by a Superior to his vassal for military services tho' by a kind of Antinomasia that first signification be in a manner now wholly disused and the other of a Spiritual or Church living commonly if nor only understood thereby And hence it may be observed that as Patronage was fixed or continued and improven in imitation of Feudal Superiorities so as to order of time its first vigor was not till after the feudal Institution For the Vandals who gave the rise to the Feudal Contract took the City of Rome after the middle of the fifth Century This may likewise confirm what was formerly hinted that till the year DC the Interests of Patronage in the Election and Maintenance of the Pastors of the Church was not known SECT II. A general View of the Rights of PATRONAGE THe Canonists write of Patrons as persons in some kind of office having right to a sort of Stipend The rights they ascribe to them are shortly these I. First a Jus Honorificum whereby the patron had power to nominate the Pastor and give him right to the Benefice and to have a splendid and Stately Seat and a Burial place in the Kirk and a right of precedency among the Clergy in solemn processions visitations c In which they could not lay aside their Pride and Vanity in their very nearest approaches to God in going about the Duties of his worship and service Nor in the most humbling Circumstances of Death and Burial And how suitable such practices are to the faults of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 23.6 Mark 12.38 James 2.1 2 3 4. who did all their works to be seen of men and loved the uppermost Rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the Synagogues and
succeeding to and coming in their places and were by him disposed upon to whom he pleased by rights under the Great Seal c And the truth is this is a sort of succession very sutable to the Kings other pretences of Supremacy and Headship of the Church which in effect make him a new Pope in a reformed Church Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos as if the design of the Reformation had not been to separate our selves from the unjust and antichristian power usurped over the Church by the Popes but meerly to transfer it from Italy and the Bishop of Rome and lodge it in the person of the Prince among ourselves And hence it is cleare that tho' there be an ordinar distinction of Kirks into elective and patâ—onate which some urge for a connivance at Patronage yet with us there remains not the least shadow of an elective Kirk in the whole nation X. Seventhly the Canonists tell us that the right of Patronage was often granted to such as had not in the least been Benefactors to the Church in the Erection or doting of Kirks And that per modum specialis privilegii granted be the Pope solent enim pontifices nonunnquam se à ecretorum Dominos ac Conditores ostendere That they may let the World see they are the absolute Masters unaccountable Arbiters alse well as the Makers of the Canons XI Eightly the Canonists also tell us that the patron may commit and Intrust his power of presentation to any other specially authorized for that end And thus we have frequently seen among our selves the Factors and Chamberlanes of Noblemen and others act by vertue of such Commissions in these matters XII And lastly they also tell us that such patrons as are precisely past seven years of age and far more such as are within minority may present by themselves without the advice or concurse of their Tutors and Curators tho' some of the Canonists do require that Tutors and Curators do it in their Name SECT III. The Opinion of our Reformers c. concerning PATRONAGE I AS this corrupt custom of Patronage spread over the Church in general so we find the Church of Scotland in particular wanted not her share in the common Calamity And accordingly we find this pretended Priviledge zealously witnessed against by our worthy Reformers who vigorously pressed for the removal of it And we find also that other Foreign Churches were sensible of the bondage the Church lay under by these priviledges I cannot stay to insert testimonies at large the Reader may fully satisfie himself in the matter if he will be at the pains to look over the first and second Books of Discipline I Book of Difciplia head 4 2 Book of Disciplin cap. 3. and 12. Gen. assemb 1562. sess 3 Gen. assemb 1586. sess 5. Synod Dordracen of this Church the Acts of our general Assemblies and the Acts of the Famous Synod of Dort. As for the opinion of particular Divines tho' they have but very little medled with these Matters yet when ever they touch them they declare them to be a very grievous and burdensome usurpation as in some measure we may have occasion to see in the following part of this Discourse II. And truly no less could be expected from men of so much Piety and Zeal for the Glory of God Conc. Triden Sess 25 decret de Refor cap. 9. sess 14. decret de Refor cap. 12 13 sess 24. decret de Reform cap. 18 Conc. Mogunt cap. 68. and the Interests of his Church since even the most corrupt assembly that ever mett I mean the Council of Trent is forced to acknowledge the great prejudice the Church sustains by the Rights of Patronage as is clear from what is already hinted and from their other decrees in the years 1551 and 1563. And before them the provincial Council at Mentz in Germany in the year 1549 was very sensible of the injustice and oppression of these Privileges as we may have occasion to mention hereafter III. But after the Shaking that these Rights of Patronage got at our Reformation from Popery the alteration of that comely and orderly Church Government instituted by Jesus Christ and which we received both with Christianity it self and in a special manner with our first Reformation from Antichristian darkness and under which so many abuses both in Church and State were so happily taken away and so much of the purity and plenty of Gospel Ordinances with a most wonderful Success established The alteration I say of this our Presbiterial Government into Prelacy gave this Corruption and many others new Root For under prelacy a Government first and last violently obtruded upon this Church contrary to the inclinations of the Nation without any warrand from the word of God or example either in pure antiquity or other reformed Churches abroad for no other end but to bear down the just and necessary Liberties of the Church in the reproof of sin and in the Exercise of discipline and to be subservient for carrying on the bad designs of a corrupt court party for enslaving of both Church and State and constantly attended with a most Visible and General defection both in Worship and Morals Under this Prelacy it was that this and many other corruptions and superstitions were vigorously advanced and supported The Prelats leaving no means unessayed to inhaunce all the Patronages they could in their own hands or in the hands of such as would contribute their power and interest to promote the designs then on foot for enslaving this Church and Nation under a yoak of Bondage and Superstition and to keep out all such from any access to the Work of the Ministry as were in the least suspected of a desire to cross these ill designs so that at length the Right of Patronage became so rooted and fixed and so twisted and inter woven with other secular and civil interests that it was expresly avowed and pleaded for as a part of a Mans private Patrimony the Rights whereof he had settled and confirmed to him and his heirs after him as these of his other estate by Charters under the Seals c. And might Lawfully sell and dispose of it to whom he thought fit as well as the rest of his Fortune And from which he could not be excluded without the highest injury and injustice IV. These Exorbitancies of patronage already mentioned with many others too tedious to relate wherein our Patronages are many times very different to the worse from these in the Canon Law a man in reason would think might be sufficient without any farther enquiry or debate to determine us against such a Priviledge But since this as well as other corruptions is to this day by some persons with so much heat and vehemence asserted and defended tho' the justice of the publick Authority of the Nation in abolishing these priviledges was in the year 1649 and several years thereafter very cordially acquiesced unto by
be the only terms and conditions on which men will gratifie the Church that she subject her self and her spiritual Liberties to such a yoke of Slavery as this Priviledge imports I am sure the Church will be better without such Favours than with them IV. If there were once a reasonable competency settled upon the Church for the maintenance of her Pastors and other pious and necessary uses or if what was once settled and sacrilegiously taken from her were again restored and that faithfully administrat without dilapidation and misapplication there would be but little need of encouragement for any farther additions It hath been observed in all Ages That excesse in this matter hath been more fatal to the true interests of the Church than any defect could be Too much tends to introduce a depravation of Life and Manners in Church-men and by a necessar connexion also a Corruption in Worship and Doctrine If Wordly riches had been proper for advancing the work of the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ who was Lord of all had never been so scant in his allowance to his Disciples and Apostles It is an old observation that when the Church had but Lignei calices she had aurei Episcopi and when she got golden chalices she got wooden Bishops or Pastors The sense is easily understood tho' it be not exactly literal So true it is that Religio peper it divitias Filia Matrem devoravit Religion brought forth Riches and the daughter devoured the Mother V. Lastly to say that the denyal of the priviledges of Patronage is the cause of this discouragement Is but the Fallacia non causae pro causa for the truth is that which is the only cause of Peoples discouragement in the bestowing of their goods for pious uses is the scandalous and sacrilegious mismanagment of the uncontraverted Patrimony of the Church by misapplying it contrary to its design and nature of which there are no sort of Men under Heaven so guilty as many of the Patrons are The Lord himself tells his Servant Moses no devouted thing that a man shall devout unto the Lord of all that he hath both of Man and Beast Levit. 27 28. and of the feild of his possession shall be sold and redeemed and much less sacrilegiously robbed every devouted thing is most holy unto the Lord. Deo dicata says Amandus Polanus Ei Sacra maneant Polanus in Danel cap. 1. v. 2. nam si Is zelus in Rege idololatrico scilicet Nebuchadnezare fuit ut censuerit vasa Deo Israelis Sancta non alio quam in sui Dei seu potius Idoli fanum infereuda multo magis Christiani Magistratus bona illa quae tempore Papatus Deo dicata fuerunt usibus Ecclesiae relinquere debent Imo quanto magis Episcopos id facere decet i. e. That which is once devouted to God ought to remain Holy to him for if the zeal of an Idolatrous Prince to wit Nebuchadnezar oblidged him to believe that the Holy Vessells of the God of Israel were not to be otherways disposed of but for the service of his own God or rather his Idols temple much more ought a Christian Magistrat to leave these goods for the use of the Church which in the time of Popery were consecrat for pious uses c. see and compare this with Ezra 1.7.8 where all these Vessells are returned to their right and proper use Our own Rollock inveighs very sharply against the sacriledge of this Nation in his time in misapplying to the use of privat Persons what was taken from the Popish Church and citeth such as are guilty to answer it before the Tribunal of the Soveraign and Impartial Judge of all the Earth Rollock in Dan. and he tells them that tho' they slight and neglect his warning it shall be a standing witness against them to render them Inexcusable c. And our famous and worthy Reformer Mr. Knox whose testimony I value above a thousand others In a letter dated in August 1571. direct to the general Assembly at Stirling speaks his mind very freely on this subject with all the earnestness sincerity of a Person that was looking very shortly to step over the Threshold of time into Eternity Take his own words Because says he the dayly decay of my Natural strength threatens me with a sudden departure from this valley of misery therefore of Love and Conscience I exhort you yea in the fear of God I Charge and Command you that you take heed to your selves and to the flock of God And that with the like uprightness and strength in God ye gainstand the merciless Devourers of the Patrimony of the Church If Men will spoil let them do it to their own Peril and condemnation But communicat ye not with their Sins of whatsoever state they be neither by consent nor by silence but with publick protestation make known to the World that ye are innocent of such robbery which will er'e it be long provock God's vengence on the Committers of it c And I am sure the experience of many Families in Scotland may confirm this Religione mutatâ says a learned Lawyer sic statu priori inverso Finkel hoc.t. Patronus curabit ut bona Ecclesiae piis usibus legata non tantum preserventur augeantur sed ad usum alium aeque pium convertantur puta ad cultum alium divinum ad salutem Rei publicae ad conservandum Ministerium ad sum Scholarum pauperes juvandos Nosocomia condenda c. i. e. When there is an alteration of Religion and by consequence an inversion of the former state of Affairs a Patron ought to take care that the goods of the Church and what is left for pious uses be not only preserved and augmented but that they be applyed to other as pious uses as for the worship of God in a lawful manner for the safety of the Common wealth for the maintaining of the Ministry for the use of Schools the help of the poor the building of Hospitals c. VI. I might add the joint Testimony of our own Church in her Books of Disciplin c. many other things But this being a head that I have but accidentally fallen upon and a Subject that would lead me out a great length and much farther than the design of this discourse will allow I shall leave it Such as desire farther information may find enough and too much to satisfie their curiosity in the publick records of the Nation They may also consult the learned Sir Henry Spelman's tractat de non temerandis Ecclesits and his larger work of Teiths They may also see D. Forbes's gemitus Ecclesiae SECT VIII The Ground of Patronage from a Grant or Concession of the Church examined I. THe next ground that is urged for a foundation to the rights of Patronage is that the Patrons of Kirks and Benefices enjoy the priviledge acclaimed in reference to the
nor to Magistrates as such because Jesus Christ who appointed and institute the the Ministry hath prescribed nothing singular concerning these orders nor hath communicated any new Right to them and hath left his Church very well ordered without them VII And if these priviledges of Patronage be without Foundation either from the word of God or from moral use and necessity as we have already proven and shall yet farther clear They can be nothing else but unjust and unreasonable Vsurpations And as usurpations in all Societies are deservedly very odious so a fortiori in the Church of the living God the most truly free Society on Earth whose Liberties and Priviledges are purchased at no lower rate than the most precious Blood of the Immaculat Lamb and Eternal Son of God they must be much more detestable Sure I am if the most eminent and judicious congregation in the Land should claim such a Priviledge in reference to the choice and maintenance of the meanest servant in the Patron 's Family He would with a great deal of reason look upon it as a most intolerable usurpation and oppression For as our Patrons do maintain that de jure they are not oblidged to seek the advice of either Presbitry or Paroch to the Nomination and Election of a Pastor but that both are oblidged to accept the Person whom the Patron presents if he be found in any measure externally qualified for the Office of a Pastor in general without any other enquiry or consideration So to do them right the practice of Patrons in this matter hath been no way disagreeable to their claims unless it be to the worse VIII We have but too much Reason to apprehend that this unjust and unwarrantable usurpation is one of these crying Sins by which God hath been provoked in his Justice to lay wast and desolate most of the great families of the Land. There are many standing Monuments of God's wrath and displeasure against such as medle in the affairs of his house without his own warrand and appointment Saul Vzziah and Vzzah are Recorded among others not as idle Stories but as warnings to Men in all after-ages of the Church not to partake in their sins left they also partake in their Plagues Vzzah had a much fairer and better pretext 2 Sam 6 6 1 Chron 13 9 to put his Hand to the Ark of the Lord than any of our Patrons have for their acclaimed priviledges He but touched the Ark of God in a case where he thought an extreme and indispensible necessity oblidged him to it And yet the Lord will not let his rash and preposteous Zeal pass unpunished because he Acted without a warrand For tho' he was a Levite and as such was commanded to carry the Ark on his Shoulders but not on a Cart yet being no Priest it was unlawful for him to touch it with his Hand Numb 4 15. And therefore the Lord is pleased to single him out and to make him an example of his Justice and Displeasure both for the general Sin of the Congregation in carrying the Ark on a Cart and not upon the Shoulders of the Levites and for his own Particular Sin in stretching forth his Hand to touch it without a Lawful call tho' his pretext and the seeming necessity of it was such that even David a man according to God's own Heart was tempted to fret at so heavy and unproportioned a Punishment of so slight and trivial a fault as he thought this was IX And that this power of Patronage is no institution of God's appointment may yet farther be clear from this that all Lawful powers that are of God are either Civil or Ecclesiastick and Spiritual For as to mixt powers that is such as are neither purely Civil nor purely Spiritual and Ecclesiastick and such as give the Office-bearers of the Church an interest in the management of Secular Affairs and give Secular powers an interest in Sacris we must freely disown them as having no foundation eitherin Divinity or good Policy but expresly contrary to both and as having ever been found by the Church's dear bought experience to be nothing else but the weak devices of ambitious and aspiring men to marr the progress of the Gospel and to bring the Church in subjection to a strange head Plants that are not of our Heavenly Father's Planting and most unbecoming the Wisdom of any Christian Church or State to tolerat and allow And certainly as the Magistrate or Civil powers of a Nation have no warrand to medle in Sacris so there is no Conscientious Minister of the Gospel but will find his charge so weighty without any farther addition of secular Affairs that he must say from the sense of his own weakness and the great extent of the duties of his Function with the great Apostle of the Gentiles who is sufficient for these things I Ergo tu saies Bernard to Eugenius Et usurpare tibi aut Dominans apostolatum aut Apostolicus dominatum Such a mixture as this is manifestly contrary to the dictates of our Blessed Saviour who hath expresly told us That his Kingdom is not of this World but a poor and contemptible handful in the Eyes of Men taken out of the World. And therefore as our Blessed Lord never gave any Instructions or precepts see Luk 22.25 Math 20.25 John 15.19 to the Civil Powers to medle in Sacris so he never gave any direction to the Office-bearers of the Church for the administration of civil Affairs But on the Contrary as we formerly hinted expresly dischargeth the same And therefore we may well give such unwarrantable mixtures that sutable Epiphonema apage hoc mixtum genus hominum prolemque biformem X And that this power of Patronage is one of these amphibious and irregular Inventions may be clear not only from these many confused Opinions of these Canonists themselves on this Head but also from these undenyable Grounds For first that this power of Patronage is not a power truly civil may be sufficiently evinced from the Nature of these Acts in which it is exerced to wit the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Ministry and the Negative interests acclaimed therein and in their maintenance All which are Actions of a Spiritual and Ecclesiastick Nature and such as by the Holy Ghost are always given to the Church and to none other as we shall see hereafter And accordingly in the primitive and apostolick times and some hundreds of years thereafter the Looking out and Election of the Ministers of the Gospel was still managed by the Church her self without the interposition of Patrons And the maintenance of the Ministry was a part of that trust in which the Deacons an ordinary and standing Office in the Church were imployed as we have already seen XI And tho' the conveyance and confirmation of the most part of Patronages hath been from the Civil Magistrate by rights under the great Seal c. yet this cannot prove that
and Extraordinary an Officer as an Apostle It strongly imports that it was their Master's mind that they should so do not only in the particular Election of that Apostle but also and much more in the choice of the Inferiour and Ordinary Office-bearers of the Church X. Thus we also find that the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Deacons whose Office is one of the ordinary tho' inferiour Offices of the Church is given by the appointment of the Apostles to the multitude of the Disciples or ordinary Believers In which Action these things are clearly evident 1. That the twelve Apostles call the Multitude together and appoint Deacons to be chosen and also appoint their determinate Number viz seven being so many as they judged would serve the Church's need at that time as also they ordain and lay hands on these Deacons after they are chosen and and so state and confirm them in their Office. 2. That the multitude of Disciples or Believers are left by the Apostles to their own freedom and discretion in the Election and choice of those seven qualified as the Apostles had directed 3. That the Looking out Nomination and Election of those seven is accordingly performed by the multitude of Believers In prima instantia without the prelimitation of a previous Nomination or Choice 4. That the same multitude of Beleivers present or as the word is set these seven before the Apostles who ordain and lay hand upon them and so invest and confirm them in the Office. XI And as in all Christ's Institutions so particularly in this of the Election of the Office-bearers of his own house there appears a most Beautiful and Harmonious order For as the Election of the first and extarordinary Officers of the Church was immediately performed by our Lord Jesus Christ the Chief Pastor Head of the Church so the Election of the succeeding and ordinary Officers of the Church is very consequentially performed by the inferiour Pastors and Members of the Church respectively each of them acting and keeping within the limits prescribed by the Chief Pastor and Head of the Church XII Suteable to these excellent Patterns and examples set down in the Holy Scriptures the General Assembly of this Church Gen assemb 1649 sess 40 in the directory for Electing of Ministers appoints the order thereof in this manner 1. The Presbitry sends one of their own Number to the Congregation for which a Minister is to be Elected and he having preached before them concerning the necessity of a well qualified Pastor and the great need that the People have to be diligent and fervent in Prayer to the Lord for such He is to signifie to them that the Presbitry out of their care for that People will send them Preachers whom they may hear But withall he advertiseth them that if they desire to hear any other the Presbitry will endeavour to satisfie them upon the sute of the Elders of the Congregation for that Effect 2. Within some competent time thereafter The Presbitry is again to send a Minister to that Congregation on a certain day before appointed for that end who having then Preached and intimat to the People that they are to go about the Election of a Pastor the Session is to proceed to it the Minister that Preached moderating therein And the Election being made is to be intimate to the People And if upon intimation they acquiesce and consent to the Person chosen then the Presbitry is to proceed to his tryals But if the People dissent from the Person Elected by the Session the Presbitry is to take cognition thereof and after they have fully heard and considered the whole affair they are to judge and decide in it And where Congregations are unfit as in some cases they may be to make any Election the Presbitry is to provide them with a fit Pastor XIII Our Reverend Brethren the Ministers of the province of London incline to think that the power of Election doth ordinarly belong not so much to the People Jus Divin regim Eccles Pag. 98.99 in margine and Jus Divine Minist evang Pag 12 7. but rather to such as are in Office when Judicially conveened As for extraordinary cases I speak nothing of them For these must have extraordinary remedies But certainly dum suppetit remedium or dinarium nunquam recurrendum est ad remedium extraordinarium XIV Master Rutherfoord and others do unanimously agree that what ever be the People's share and interest in the Election of their Pastors it is indeed a deliberative and approbative but not an Authoritative Action yet as is said it is an Action truly Ecclesiastical properly and only belonging to the Church as such And that the People are indeed very nearly concerned in the right choice of their Pastors as being the most special ordinary means appointed of God for their Spiritual and Eternal welfare XV. From all which it is abundantly evident that the Right and power of the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Office-bearers of the Church of God doth properly and only belong to the Church as such and no way to any single person upon the account of priviledge or otherways call him patron or what you please and that the negative interests of Patronage are inconsistent with and destructive of that unlimited freedom and liberty of Election granted to and appointed by Jesus Christ to his Church for providing herself with such as may be most fit and proper for bearing Office therein XVI I need not add after this that the method of entring the Pastors of the Church by Patrons marrs that beautiful constant and uniform order that appears in all these ordinances and institutions of which our Blesed Lord who is a God of order and not of confusion Is the Author And therefore we may very Justly conclude it can be none of his For by this method of Patronage some Pastors are oblidged to enter by Patrons and some without them as in cases where it is doubtful who hath right to Present or where the Heirs of the last Patron are not entered as we term it or as the Civilians term it nondum adierunt haereditatem And in many other cases which oft times put both Presbitry and People to a stand not knowing how to behave and in the mean time the Congregation must unavoidably lye desolate at lest for half a Year for during that time the Patron is not oblidged to Present Again some must enter by those they call Ecclesiastical Patrons as Bishops c others by Laick Patrons whereof some are Courtiers others Souldiers or mean and Ignorant Mechanicks c. Some must enter by Patrons residing at a distance in the country others by those that reside neither in the Country nor Nation yea and some by Women as hath been formerly observed Some by one Patron others by many c. Ministri says Doctor Ames dati sunt Ecclesiae a Chrisâ—o ut eadem or dinaria et
could not be otherwise had to the keeping up of such an abuse when it may be taken away as it was once well taken away is a consequence beyond all rational comprehension Those Ministers ordinarly had the voluntar consent of the Church and People interessed which makes up the Substance of Election And if they had not this I do not see how they could have been free of the guilt of having run unsent ubi libertas Electionis sayes Doctor Ames ab episcopis de casibus Cons Cap 25 § 29. Magistratu Patronis Imminuitur quamvis Electio non sit eo modo et gradu libera quo oportet Consensus tamen voluntarius ut in Conjugio sic in Ministerio licet iniquis rationibus procuretur essentiam habet Electionis et vocationis necessario Requisitae That is tho' in such cases the Election be not in that manner and to that degree so free as it ought to be yet the voluntary consent of these interessed as in the case of Marriage so in this of the Ministry hath the necessary Essence and Substance of ane Election and Call. SECT XV Patronage is a symbolizing with Idolaters and against the Doctrine and Discipline of this Church I. THE last ground that we shall insist upon against the interests of Patronage is that it being a Popish device without any use or necessity ought even upon that account to be rejected I grant indeed that it is no sufficient Argument simply to say that a thing is devised or practised by the Popish Church if it were founded on any necessity either of means or precept that is if it were either morally necessary or positively commanded But we may well conclude that the complying and symbolizing with Idolaters in things unnecessary or even things simply indifferent is sinful and unlawful Thus we find the Lord prohibiteth his People from complying with or imitation of the Heathen in cutting the Hair Lev 19 27 or rounding the corners of the Head c which are things in themselves at worst but indifferent And therefore a fortiori and much more is it unjustifiable to comply with Idolaters In keeping up and maintaining such Popish devices as are not only in themselves useless and unnecessary but are likewayes clearly prejudcial and destructive to the interests and liberties of the Church of God And have moreover a Natural Tendency to foster Superstition and an Anti-evangelical Opinion of Merit II. And that this power of Patronage is of that nature is abundantly clear from what is already said in the begining and progress of this Discourse And to this day where ever it is maintained in its â—ull Latitude as in the Popish Churches daily experience confirms the truth of this Charge For as Superstition and the Opinion of Merit were the great Principles that gave Birth and Life to this corrupt and useless Invention and have multiplied Patronages to so vast a number as will appear to any that will peruse the Popish Writers so it is but little wonder that this power still retain a native tendency to foster these breasts from which it drew its first strength and aliment There being nothing more natural than for a thing both to preserve and be preserved by the same means by which it began at first to have a Beeing It were easie to enlarge upon this Consideration but the thing it self being abundantly clear I shall leave it to the Reader 's own consideration That will furnish him with more than is necessar to set down in this discourse which hath already exceeded the brevity at first designed III. There are many other Grounds that might be insisted on against the Interest of Patronage but these already proposed I hope upon due consideration will be found to be a sufficient proof of our assertion and the intended brevity of this Essay will not allow me to enlarge any farther And therefore I shall only add that this power of Patronage is contrary to the Doctrine Discipline and Government of this Church received from the first Dawning of the Reformation from popery as hath been shewn in the entry of this discourse shall not now be resumed which the whole Nation hath so often and Solemnly Vowed and engaged to Maintaine And it is hoped that none who have been Born and Baptized in this National Church will upon serious and deliberate reflection think this Device which is so unwarrantable useless and offensive and so prejudicial and destructive to the worship and service of God and the good of the Souls of his People Of so much worth and value as to run themselves and their posterity by the defence and practise of it under the hazard that the breach of such solemn Eagagments may bring upon them IV And what ever disorder may bepretended by the Adversaries of Religion to have been in going about the Reformation either in this 〈◊〉 other Countries yet as it is not much to be admired if in such a horrid confusion and darkness as the affairs of both Church and state were brought to at that time there was somthing of an unavoidable superpurge upon a Body full of so gross Humors and fixed and inveterate Diseases where it was impossible for the best Phisitians at the first to know the Quantum sufficit and the just and true Dose requisite for such an untractable patient Especially after all that they call Regular and orderly methods had been so often attempted with out the least success Omne enim pharmacum habet in se aliquid veneni Et omne medicum aliquid violenti et nullum est magnum exemplum sine aliqua mixtura injustitiae There being no Drug without some mixture of Poison no Phisick without something violent in it nor any great example or advantage without some small loss which yet our Adversaries will be very much straitned to instruct So sure I am in the present case this corrupt power of Patronage was once taken away not in any disorderly manner nor so suddenly as it might have been but after a long tract of time and much trouble and pains was abolished by publick Authority in the most calm and deliberate method imaginable SECT XVI A pretence that the Patron meddles with nothing of Election or what is properly Ecclesiastical I. I Come now to the last part of the method proposed which is to examine such pretences as may be offered to extenuate the injuries that we have demonstrate the Church sustains by occasion of the corrupt and useless priviledges of Patronage and to clear that the Church's prejudice thereby is not so great as it is represented to be II. The first pretence of this nature we meet with is that the priviledge acclaimed in the Call of a Minister cannot be said to be any right of Election For when a Patron Presents a Minister he makes no formal Election but leaves that and all the rest of the Ecclesiastical part viz. Tryal and Admission intirely to the Presbitery So
There is still a hazard in the matter and Christian prudence oblidges us to shun even the least appearance of evil as far as we may The true rule in such cases as I already marked is to abolish an useless and dangerous custom or rather corruption since vetustas erroris non consuetudo sed corruptela dicenda est and then indeed the consequence will be good that the Church can be at no loss by it Mortui non Mordent says the proverb IV. And next beside that the power of Patronage doth unnecessarly expose Intrants to discouragement by being rejected for Insufficiency and also exposeth the Church-Judicatories to an unjust and causeless odium and reproach of too much rigor and severity which if the right of Election were in the Church's own hand as it ought to be would be very much prevented I say beside this we have already observed what true liberty this power of Patronage leaves to the Church in the choise and tryal of her Pastors And when ever the Presbitery rejects the Person presented upon any head that is not grounded upon his Insufficiency and Scandal the Patron looks upon his priviledge as highly injured he being oblidged to stand to no such determination And when ever they reject upon Scandal or insufficiency unless it be most palpably and clearly manifest which is not alwayes necessary for a Pastor ought not only to be free of Scandal 1 Tim. 2.2 7. Tit. 1. but as the Apostle positively requires he ought to be of an intire fame and known good report I say if such insufficiency be not palpably manifest there is presently a terrible outcry and a constant foundation laid of many tedious Appeals and litigious Debates concerning the quantum sufficit of a Pastors qualifications c. from one Church-Judicatory to another with little credit to the Patron and far less to the Intrant And upon this consideration alone tho' there were no other the Church's freedom in the tryal and admission of her Pastors is very much hindered as the Liberty of Marriage in the case of waird Vassals is abridged by the Power and Interest of the Superior and the niceties of the feudal customs And certainly as their is no sort of contract in the World wherein a perfect liberty and freedom of choice ought more to predomine if I may so say then in that of Marriage so the Church by the appointment of God hath much freedom in the Election of her Pastors which are his Spiritual Husbands And as any force or undue influence in the one case is very odious so in the other likewise it is no less so The Simile is easily understood and therefore I shall urge it no farther A waird holding in such cases as this is certainly a very hard and dangerous Tenure V. But besides when a person presented by the Patron is rejected by the Presbitery the Patron 's right stands still intire to Elect and present de novo some other person ejusdem farinae with the former and so the Church most of new again be inviegled in the same troubles and perplexities and all to no purpose or use VI. Again in the Election of Pastors by the Patrons the Church and People interessed have little or no power to withstand the admission or to nullifie the Election more than any meer Stranger that will undertake to prove the insufficiency or Scandalous carriage of the person presented VII And to say that an institution under which the Church and People of God hath so long groaned and which was forced and obtruded upon her without the least shadow of a warrand from the word of God or the least pretence of usefulness for promotting their Spiritual good and edification is no way injurious to the Church implyes a manifest contradiction VIII Lastly and I shall add no more tho' the Patron should present none but such as are some way fit yet the Church's liberty and freedom of Election remains still under restraint For tho' the Church should have power to reject never so many yet a people shall never come to enjoy the Pastor they chiefly desire and that would be most acceptable to them so long as the patron and not the Church her self retains the right or power of Election And certainly the sense of such a grievous oppression cannot but make all that are any way tender or concerned in the interests of the Church of Christ especially those that have been witnesses of a far different State of affairs and of the great advantages that attended it to be serious and fervent in prayer to God for removing and averting such a Bondage and Slavery from the Church and people of God for the future SECT XVIII Another pretence from the distinction of Laick and Ecclesiastick Patronages I. THere is another pretence made use of to extenuate the guilt of the pretended power of Patronage that is much boasted of by many tho' I confess I am unable to discover where its strength lies who grant that indeed there are many cogent Arguments against Laick Patronages as they term them and that these may be and have been very injurious to the interest of the Church but that yet Ecclesiastick Patronages may be very useful If you ask them what they mean by these they cannot tell but still they tell you Ecclesiastick Patronages are very useful because they are in the Church's own hand as the very word imports However the plain sense of this if it have any I take to be this that it is very fit this priviledge should be intrusted in the hands of Bishops who are Ecclesiastick Officers and Governours but not in the hands of others II. I cannot stay to examine this distinction tho' I can hardly be perswaded it is good Sense as it is ordinarly used since the most part of the Patronages that belonged to the Bishops may truly be termed Laick Patronages both in respect of their Original the most of them having been at first setled in the hands of the Laity as they are termed and also in respect of their conveyance which was by a grant from the Civil Magistrate by rights under the Great Seal c. And besides the true meaning of this distinction passing by the Notion and use that Lawyers have and make of it is it seems to be taken not from the quality of the Person in whose hands a Patronage is setled whether they be persons in a Civil or in an Ecclesiastick Capacity but from the quality of the stock and fond out of which the Kirks were built or the benefices setled For â—f the stock was out of the private Patrimony of any man whether he was of the Clergy or of the Laity the Patronage must be Laick and if it be out of the Patrimony of the Church the Patronage must be Ecclesiastick III. But not to insist on these Topicks this pretence is absolutly groundless 1. Because the Argument adduced striks equally against all for of Patronages and
against all such negative interests in the Election or Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel as are not of Divine appointment and institution IV. Next Bishops have no more warrand from Scripture for such an interest and priviledge than others have And the power of Patronage hath been as grosly abused if not more and as scandalously offensive and I am sure more prejudicial to the interests of the Church and to the thriving of Religion when in the hands of the Bishops than when in the hands of other persons And there is no ground from Scripture either by precept promise or example that any one Church Officer should ordinarly be intrusted with such an interest and priviledge in the Looking out Nomination and Election and in the Maintenance or Living of the Ministers of the Gospel V. But to cut of all farther debate we utterly disclaime any such Officer in the Church as a Bishop in a sense superior to or distinct from an ordinary preaching Presbiter or Elder These terms are of one and the self same signification in the Scripture as will appear to any that will be at the pains to read the Texts where ever the word Bishop is mentioned And I know no man or Angel that hath power to separate what the Spirit of God in the Scripture has joyned and made one and the same And consequently a Bishop can have no such priviledge Non entis nulla sunt accidentia nullae affectiones nullae proprietates VI. And tho' prelacy were a Lawful Office as it is not and tho' the Prelates were Successors to the Apostles as they most ridiculously pretend since as we already cleared it was impossible the design of their Office could admit of any Succession yet sure I am in this priviledge of Patronage they never did nor doe follow the example of the Apostles For even the Apostles themselves in the Election of Matthias to be one of their number made use of the Concurrence of the People And in the ordination of the Pastors of the Church they made use of the concurrence both of the Presbitry and People And if they joined the Presbitry and People and admitted them to an interest in relation to the highest acts of the Ministerial Call they questionless also left them a share 1 Tim 4.14 in the Looking out Nomination and Election of the ordinary pastors Nam qui vult majus vult etiam minus Act 15.2 25.27 Act 13.1 2.3 Act. 14 27 28 Nay which is more the ordinary Teachers of the Church and others did concurr in sending out of the very Apostles themselves to some special pieces of their Ministry And accordingly the Apostles think it not below their Dignity to give them an account how they had behaved in their Commission So that let the Prelates pretend Succession to whom they will they can never pretend to be Successors of the Apostles to whom a Sole power of Jurisdiction and Ordination was as much a Stranger as to any Presbyter in the Church VII But lastly if by Ecclesiastick Patronages the Lawful Church Judicatories be meant tho' in that case both the Title of Patronage and the extent of power thereby understood must be rejected yet there is no doubt but the Judicatories of the Church have a very special hand and interest in the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Ministers of the Gospel and have a power Ministerially to authorize them for their office and to send them forth to Labour in the Lord's Vine Yard And by consequence do also Ministerially invest them with a Right to meddle with their Maintenance A Ministers only Right thereto being a Lawful call to the Office and Faithful discharge of his duty in it as we have formerly marked SECT XIX A pretence from the failings and mistakes of the Church Judicatories c. I. THE last pretence that I shall notice is this that Presbitries and People are not infallible but are subject to Mistake and Erre in the Election and Choice of Pastors as well as the Patrons And therefore the Patron 's Power of Election is no more injurious to the Church than she is to her self II. For answer to this it may be considered First That the lawful and ordinary method of Electing the Pastors of the Church being an Ordinance and Institution of Divine Appointment and the power of Patronage on the contrary being nothing else but an useless Invention of Men and a most groundless and unreasonable Usurpation upon the Church and clearly inconsistent with and destructive of the Institutions of Jesus Christ The Church and People of God may very safely and confidently rely and depend upon the Lord for his Blessing and direction in the right choice of the Ministers of the Gospel when they Act in a way of his own appointment which they who Act in so unjust and unwarrantable a method as this of Patronage have no ground to expect And tho' the Lord for wise and holy ends may some times leave his Church and People to themselves and let them fall in errors and mistakes in this as well as in other cases yet duty must not be forsaken for fear of failings in the performance We must both Pray to God for a discovery of what is duty when it is unclear to us and when it is discovered we must Pray for strength and assistance to perform it a right and then set about it in the Lord's strength with a humble confidence and dependance upon him for his blessing and direction who hath never said to the house of Jacob seek ye my face in vain III. Next tho' as is already said there be no institution either in Church or State but what by Reason of the Weakness and Corruption of Men may be abused yet this is no sufficient ground for laying aside an institution that is either morally necessary or positively enjoined by God The only rule and remedie in this case is Tollatur abusus et maneat usus let the matter be regulate by Acting in it according to the word of God which fully and clearly discovers what both Church-Judicatories and People may or may not do in the case But â—n the contrary the abuse and offensiveness of unnecessary unwarrantable institutions does strongly militate against their farther use If the Presbitry do at any time miscarry in a way that they are warranted by God to follow we must pray that God may purge his own House and purifie the Sons of Levi And the help and assistance of Superior Church-Judicatories must be made use of And in cases of general and publick defection the Civil Magistrate may employ his power circa Sacra But those mistakes can never warrand us to leave the institutions of the infinite love and wisdom of God and betake our selves to our own weak and witless inventions in the matters of God. Christ's promised presence with his Church may be a sufficient encouragement for his People to cleave and adhere to him in wayes of his own appointment Whereas those who go astray and follow crooked Paths ingyring themselves as Officious and Busie Bodies in the affairs of the Church without a Lawful Call can expect nothing but that God in his Justice should leave them to be a Snare both to themselves and others Certainly were these things really believed as all profess they do peoples practise would be very far different from what it is But such is the Atheism of mans heart thâ—â— while we confess the truths of God with our Lips our Hearts are too oft far from him IV. I begin now to be weary of noticeing such trifles And the truth is it might be amazing to hear men otherways rational offer such empty pretences instead of Solid and Convincing reasons if the cause would admit of any better But it is Vitium Causae and so we need no more admire to see a weakness inevitably cleave to the ablest Wits in the defence of what is unjustifiable than to see the strongest of men succumb in raising a weight that is above his natural strength to undergo The strength of mens Spirits as well as of their Bodies have their limits and are not infinite And since I mind nothing farther that can be objected but what with very much ease may receive a full solution from the Grounds already represented I think it will be needless to give either the Reader or my self any farther trouble on this Subject V. I shall only add that it is the duty of all God's People in this land to wrestle with God that he may incline the hearts of all Ranks of Men in their several stations and capacities to return to a hearty and cordial Compliance with and a chearful Acquiescence in the just and rational Determinations that were once made by publick Authority in this Nation both in this and other steps of a true Reformation And that the Lord may not be provoked by a too open Contempt of the Gospel of Peace the Crying Sin of the Nation and our sinful slighting of his Mercies to suffer his Church after so much wrestling to sink under her present Bondage and Captivity by reason of this and other unjust and grievous usurpations into which after so many and great Deliverances we are again for our Sins brought into Subjection FINIS