in such terms as they could then receive it that when he was departed from them and sate down at the Right Hand of the Father they should act as the supreme visible Governours of the Church which is the Mystical Israel Another Objection which the Author of the Leviathan brings against Ecclesiastical Authority is taken from our Saviour's forbidding his followers to be called Masters But that proves too much or nothing for in what sense they might not assume the Title of Masters in that it may not be attributed to any man upon Earth but belongs to Christ The want of it therefore would abrogate all Humane Authority or none at all The like may be said of his Argument which he grounds on these words of S. Paul Not that we have Dominion over your faith for no man in the World hath any such Dominion as implies a right to coin new Articles of Religion or to impose things to be believ'd as the Doctrine of God which he hath no where reveal'd This is what was disclaim'd by the Great Justinian and ought to be so by all other Princes Since therefore there is a want of that Dominion equally in all men if such a defect were inconsistent with Authority it would destroy that of the Civil Magistrate or render it a mere Usurpation But the Objector assigns to Supreme Magistrates such Authority that by it he says All sorts of Doctrine are to be approved or rejected and according to him those Magistrates must be obey'd though they command their Subjects to profess an Assent to the Alcoran or to condemn the Gospel of Christ or to worship Idols And for this he pleads from the Example of Naaman the Syrian who bowed himself in the House of Rimmon when his Master leaned upon his hand But how impertinently he makes use of that Instance others have demonstrated and I shall only note that it is not strange that a person who shews such an enmity to Religion and to Christianity in particular should tell us That Temporal and Spiritual Government are but two words brought into the World to make men see double and mistake their lawful Sovereign Whosoever reads and believes the Scripture cannot but approve what he derides so manifest it is from thence that a Government distinct from the Temporal was establish'd by our Lord himself The Apostles were constituted by him the first Rulers of his Church but without any Commission from the Civil Magistrate They laid their Commands on the Christian Converts and expected an obedience to their Orders And we must believe they had Power to do this from Christ notwithstanding this man so confidently denies that he left them any such Authority They asserted the Right he gave them to preach notwithstanding the Prohibitions and Menaces of the Officers of State and this was so reasonable that they appeal'd to their enemies to be Judges of it Without asking leave of any Secular Powers they planted Churches they form'd Societies under their proper Rulers and did not teach them to see double when they requir'd them to honour and obey those that presided over them in the Lord Such Spiritual Governours remain'd after the Decease of the Apostles when they were so far from receiving their Office or any support and assistance in the discharge of it from Temporal Princes that they were hated and persecuted by them Yet they proceeded in their work and kept up their Discipline And it is certain that before the Empire was Christian the Church was govern'd by its proper Officers as a Society distinct from the State and independent on it yet were not the Christians then in danger of mistaking their lawful Sovereign You must excuse me Sir that I have been so long detain'd by the Exceptions of an Author of no good fame It is from him that you have taken some of your Principles and you are not neglected when they are consider'd as I find them in the Original You follow the Leviathan exactly where you tell me that the Apostleship itself was not a Magistracy but a Ministry For your meaning is not that the Apostles had no Secular Power about which there was no dispute but as it is manifest from your own words that they had no Authority at all unless it was to preach the Gospel and for this you quote 2 Cor. 4.5 Where S. Paul says We preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your servants for Jesus sake But if this be for your purpose and prove what you design by it then was the Office of the Apostles which has been so much magnified a servile thing Then were they put under the Dominion and left to the Disposal of their own Converts and made subject to the Churches which they had planted or which is all one the Chief Pastors were obliged to be govern'd by their Flocks And this comes of stretching a Metaphor beyond the person that us'd it You might have observ'd that the Apostles were not properly the Ministers of the Churches but of Christ and employ'd by him for the good of Mankind and this no more derogates from their Power than it does from the Dignity of the Blessed Angels that they are Ministring Spirits not of men indeed but for them that shall be heirs of salvation You might also have consider'd what S. Paul declares that he was so a servant unto all men as to remain free and consequently that he could not otherwise be their Servant but in a Figure And this which he us'd was very suitable to the condition of a person who was so abundant in his labours and comply'd so much with men of different tempers not out of weakness indeed or want of ability but out of zeal and an ardent desire of the happiness both of Jews and Gentiles Another reason for which S. Paul represented himself under this Figure is that as Servants then received no wages for their work so he reaped no temporal profit from his industry in communicating things that are Spiritual Yet this proceeded from his Choice and not from the necessary Obligation of his Office Nor did it signifie want of Power in him but a voluntary departing from his own Right He declar'd that the Labourer is worthy of his reward that the Lord hath so ordain'd that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel and that himself as well as others might justly have expected his maintenance from the Contributions of those whom he had instructed if he would have insisted on it But had he been literally their servant especially such a servant as those times afforded his acting amongst them as a Judge or Governour his passing Sentence of Condemnation on a Criminal and the Order he sends that his Decree should be put in Execution his declaring also that he was in readiness to revenge all disobedience must remain unaccountable The
well enough without them both so long as it shall be Christian it being now too late to try Experiments of new Models and to establish such Forms of Government as in the best Ages were never heard of in the World When I had enquir'd into the Original of Church-Government and shew'd that as it came out of the hands of Christ and his Apostles and remain'd in the Primitive Times it was in the Nature of it Spiritual and in Form Episcopal I had thoughts to discourse particularly of the Exercise of it in the Administration of Discipline and the Ordination of Ministers as also of the Extent of a Bishops Authority over many Congregations and of the Power of the Church in a Christian State and then to make some Remarks on that Mystery of Iniquity that has been working amongst Bigotted Papists and others in opposition to Episcopacy But being interrupted by many Avocations and not being willing to swell this Volume into too great a Bulk I have reserv'd those things with some others that may incidentally be consider'd for a second Part of this Treatise I doubt not but some will be ready to say that it had been much better to have let the whole Work alone For Now they think it is not a Time for Controversies I should think so too and would our Adversaries be of the same mind and not drag us into the Press by their Importunity But it may seem a little Unreasonable that a Truce should be maintain'd only on one side And I cannot imagine that it is a time for us to lye open to Acts of Hostility and not a time to guard our selves from them or that it is a time to cast reproach on an Apostolical Constitution of Government and not a time to defend it I rather think that it is High time to appear in vindication of it and that we cannot be unconcern'd Spectators of the Diligence with which others endeavour to promote the Interest of their several Parties unless we will declare to the World that we are not influenced by any due sense of Religion Indeed if we are only in the Communion of the Church by Law establish'd at certain seasons and with design to destroy it or to serve a Turn against it Then it is not strange if we cannot endure to hear any thing in defence of it But what is most astonishing is that persons should be found bearing the Name of Christian and carrying on the works of Darkness and Treachery of Avarice and Ambition in the most Solemn Acts of Worship and the most Sacred Rites of our Holy Religion Yet is the number of them considerable and because it may not be fit to pass by them without notice I shall here produce some part of the Charge against them as it is recited and address'd to them by a Late Writer There are some things says he that I will but lightly touch though others of contrary sentiment will lay on load One is at which I am not a little abash'd that though you according to your declar'd Principles and Ordinary Practice are Nonconformists and Dissenters yet upon occasion and to get into Place and Office of Honor or Profit you will and can take any manner of Tests that have of late been impos'd also that you can on such occasions take the Sacrament according to the Form and Way of the Church of England though you never did before nor perhaps will ever do the same again except on the like occasion and although the making and forming of these Tests and the taking of the Sacrament were intended and done on purpose to keep you and such as you out of Office yet by these ways they have not been able to exclude you and they think that nothing though never so contrary to your Principles can be devis'd and made to keep you out or to hold you in but that you will break all Bounds and leap over all Hedges so that they are at a loss what to do with you c. My Author who relates this to them as an Objection of their Adversaries is himself a Dissenter yet protests that he knows not how to answer it in their behalf with truth and honesty He confesses that they make use of the same Artifices as the Jesuits do in such cases and he knows nothing he tells them that will more render them in the eyes of all as men of flexible and profligate Consciences He also laments their Hypocrisie and breaks out into this Exclamation O! the horrible scandal that comes from hence c. But I suppose the Example of these men hath nothing in it that may prevail with us to abandon the Vindication of a good Cause their Practices being such as if we have any thing of Sincerity we cannot think on without Pain and Detestation ERRATA PAge 5. line 15. read averse p. 6. l. 17. r. to bind and ab p. 11. l. 6. marg r. 18. p. 13. l. 29. r. the intention of the person p. 39. l. 10. marg r. c. 4. p. 44. l. 8. r. such have p. 49. l. 11. after High Priest add And yet he could not have been constituted High Priest p. 54. l. 4. marg r. Successores reliquit p. 54. l. 11. marg r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 63. l. 13. r. of all Churches l. 17. r. presided p. 73. l. 8. r. munere annos p. 80. l. 27. r. continuance l. 28. dele might p. 88. l. 2 3. marg r. Apostoli p. 102. l. 26. r. and as l. 28. r. more than p. 118. l. 1. r. of an p. 143. l. 6. r. were written p. 162. l. 26. s this note should have been placed after City l. 24. and another added here to refer to the words of Clemens p. 170. l. 17. marg r. c. 4. p. 179. l. 5. marg r. Ep. 54. p. 200. l. 2. marg r. lib. 9. c. 5. p. 208. l. 14. marg r. c. 32. p. 218. l. 7. marg r. obnitente p. 260. l. 12. r. is mop't THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS Chap. 1. JEsus Christ the Founder of Church-Government The Apostles the first Officers that he constituted To them he gave no Temporal Authority yet did communicate to them that which is Spiritual p. 1 Chap. 2. The Apostles stood related amongst themselves as Equals but to other Ecclesiastical Officers particularly to the Seventy Disciples and to Presbyters as Superiors they were Bishops both in Title Authority p. 25 Chap. 3. If the Apostles were Bishops Episcopacy is of a Divine Original The Objection against this that the Apostles were Extraordinary Officers consider'd p. 34 Chap. 4. S. James was an Apostle and yet he was Bishop of Jerusalem and constantly resided there p. 60 Chap. 5. The Apostolate differs not in substance from the Office of a Bishop It was design'd for continuance p. 78 Chap. 6. The Title and Office of Apostles were communicated to many besides the Twelve p. 90 Chap. 7. Apostolical Authority was communicated to Timothy
Imprimatur Z. Isham R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Feb. 4. 1691 2. A TREATISE OF Church-Government Occasion'd by some LETTERS Lately Printed concerning the same SUBJECT BY ROBERT BURSCOUGH M. A. LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. THE PREFACE TO THE READER AN Observing Italian has given us an Account of a Transaction which is not so well known amongst us as many others of the like Nature He acquaints us that in an Assembly of Catholicks as he calls them which were brought together by the Late Earl of Bristol a Consultation was held concerning the fittest Means of propagating their Religion in this Kingdom and they agreed that one of the most proper Methods they could make use of for that purpose was to testifie a mighty Zeal and to make a great shew of Friendship for the Non-conformists Whereupon he tells us They represented them as Men of Trade whose Sufferings would be prejudicial to the Nation They pretended to commiserate their Condition and declaim'd perpetually against Persecution And there were two things he says which they propos'd to themselves in this Conduct The first was to maintain the Sectaries against the Church of England hoping they might sooner destroy it by Intestine Divisions and so more easily open a Gate to Popery The second was Under a pretence of tolerating these Sectaries to stop the Execution of the Laws about Religion that their Priests might meet with less opposition in advancing the Religion of the Church of Rome In pursuance of this Design as my Author also informs us They prevail'd with King Charles the Second to issue out his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience which was recall'd by the interposition of the Parliament But the Project which was then so happily blafted by the Parliament reviv'd to amazement in the following Reign and the Nation had the pain to see a Jesuite made a Privy Counsellor and Prime Minister of State and the Protestant Dissenters very deep in his Interests and warm under his Influence To see these Dissenters so liberally offering up their Incense to the Court which was then labouring to inslave us to the Pope and the Court answering their Devotion with many Favors For so it was as every Body knows And when this Alliance was confirm'd between them hardly a Week pass'd over our heads which did not bring us fresh Intelligence of their mutual Endearments What I have said of the Dissenters must not be understood of the whole Body of them without exception For to do them Right some of them were afflicted at the shameful Confederacy in which their Brethren were engaged But neither in Number nor in Zeal and Diligence did they equal those that beheld our Church in distress with such Eyes as the Children of Edom look'd on Jerusalem in the day of her Adversity when they cry'd to the Babylonians Rase it rase it to the foundation But it pleas'd God to disappoint their Devices so that their hands could not perform their Enterprise And one might then have thought that the Reflection on their Actions should have been such a Mortification to them as would have dispos'd them to an Accommodation and Union with those from whom they had made an Unreasonable Separation and who were so willing to forget their former Miscarriages and to receive them with all imaginable Tenderness But they on the contrary have since appear'd more averse from the Way of Peace than ever And it is Observable that the Kindness of the Papists put them into a strange fit of Complaisance and was the Cause that either they employ'd their Pens in the service of the Church of Rome or not against it But the Obligations which they have receiv'd from the Conformists instead of abating have inflam'd their Rage and given them Encouragement to write abundance of Books such as they are against the Church of England And this may shew how dissatisfied they remain in their present Circumstances and that as long as we live with them and not under them we are like to hear of their Complaints When my Adversary who is of their number and gave occasion to this Discourse saw Their Politicks and his Own defeated I had hopes that he would leave me to the Retirement I affected and give me no farther trouble with his Disputes about Church-Government I was in expectation that he would either study to be quiet or that I should meet with him amongst some late Apologists But when I least suspected it he appears in Print on the Offensive side and rudely attacking a whole Community he would persuade his Readers that a Separate National Jurisdiction such as he supposes that of our Ecclesiastical Rulers to be cannot but weaken the Jurisdiction of Kings and other States and is neither more nor less but the very same thing that heretofore was found so burdensom under the Papacy and that made the best and wisest and greatest of our Kings so uneasie So that he lays it down he says 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 learn'd us this In which words his design is to cast an Odium on the Conforming Clergy and to suggest that they have been hurtful unto Kings and usurpt a Jurisdiction that is inconsistent with the Safety and the Rights of Sovereignty But if this cannot be prov'd against them either from the Nature of their Jurisdiction it self or from their National Union or Matter of Fact on which he grounds the Charge he must be content to bear the Infamy of a false Accuser By the Jurisdiction of the Clergy which is first to be consider'd either he understands that which is Spiritual and such as the Pastors of the Church receiv'd from Christ and to say that this hath no Limits and is pernicious to the State is not only to injure the Truth but to cast a Reproach upon our Lord himself Or else he means their Temporal Authority with which they have been legally vested by Sovereign Princes and then he knows that he hath falsly call'd it Independent Unboundable and Uncontrollable he knows it is false that this is neither more nor less but the very same Supreme and Absolute Power which the Popes claim'd and usurpt and by which they made our Kings so Uneasie And I leave him to answer the Convictions of his own Conscience for the wrong he hath done the Reformation by so odious a Reflexion Another thing on which he grounds his Censure of the Clergy is their National Union and he argues that This together with the Independence which he ascribes to them must needs render them very dangerous as putting them into a condition of being made a powerful Faction and easie to be practis'd upon and inabling the Heads of the Faction to convey Malignity to all their Subordinates and
these to the People And thus when the abolishing of the Episcopal Government with all its dependences Root and Branch was in agitation Mr. Nathaniel Fiennes objected against the Bishops That by their Power over other Ministers who had an influence upon the People they might mould them both according to their own wills and having put out our eyes says he as the Philistins did Sampson 's they may afterwards make us grind and reduce us to what slavery they please A dreadful thing indeed had there been any foundation for the apprehension of it But if such Fantômes as may at any time be rais'd by Art or the Strength of Imagination and have nothing in them of Substance or Reality be sufficient to disquiet us we are like to enjoy but little rest And to come nearer to the purpose If a meer possibility of doing hurt be so dangerous and formidable to Princes This would be enough to create in them frightful Idea's of their Guards and their Armies and of all that are about them and render them at last like Pashur a Terror to themselves He could not but see that a meer Capacity in the Clergy of conveying Malignity was not sufficient to make them Enemies to the State and he pretends that they have been actually guilty of a most notorious defection from their Duty to the Civil Magistrate and that it has been found by Experience not only that there never was but that there never can be in the World a thing more dangerous to any Government than the National Hierarchy An Accusation that sounds very harsh and runs high not against a few single persons only but a considerable Society But he hath not told us in what Instance they were liable to it or when it was they became so criminal It is certain that in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth they could not deserve so hateful a Character For Jealous as She was of her Glory She could not find that it was eclips'd by them But She did perceive how necessary it was to check and repress the Attempts against them and was sensible as Mr. Camden acquaints us that her own Authority was struck at through the sides of the Bishops As this Admirable Princess penetrated into the Secrets of Foreign Courts so She perfectly understood the Interests of her own Kingdoms And if any would know what She thought of some fiery Zealots of those Times who spent their Heats in opposing Episcopacy and the Liturgy it may be seen in Serjeant Puckering's Speech recorded by Sr. William Dugdale for it is made by Her Command Her Successor King James could never discover that nothing could be more dangerous to him than the National Hierarchy He always believ'd that Episcopacy was of Divine Institution and as he found it establish'd here to his great satisfaction so he never saw cause to repent of his defence of it and the Privileges annex'd to it How well he approv'd the Constitution of the Church of England may appear from hence that in his Speech in the Star-Chamber he affirm'd That of any Church that ever he read or knew of present or past he thought in his Conscience This was the most pure and nearest the Primitive and Apostolical Church in Doctrine and Discipline and the sureliest founded on the Word of God of any Church in Christendom At the same time he complain'd of the Contempt that was cast on a Church so Reform'd and the Governours thereof and looking on it as a sign of Impending Judgments he says God will not bless us and our Laws if we do not reverence and obey Gods Law which cannot be except the Interpreters of it be respected and reverenced Such a regard He had for them from a Principle of Religion and their Fidelity to Him was answerable to it and contributed not a little to the Safety of his Person the Support of the Throne and the Welfare of the Nation But as for the many Dangers to which he was expos'd they arose from other Quarters They either proceeded from the Conspiracies of Papists whose Principles he examin'd and confuted that neither the Subversion of States nor the Murthers of Kings should have free passage in the World for want of timely Advertisement or from the Practices of another sort of persons whom he calls the very Pests in the Church and Common-wealth and by whom as he declares to all Christian Monarchs Free Princes and States he was persecuted not from his Birth only but four Months before his Birth In the Reign of King Charles the First the Clergy were not wanting in their demonstrations of Loyalty as we all know and they felt Yet I grant that some had discours'd before his Majesty that Episcopacy as claim'd and exercis'd within this Realm was not a little derogatory to the Regal Authority as well in the Point of Supremacy as Prerogative in the one by claiming the Function as by a Divine Right in the other by exercising the Jurisdiction in their own Names But on that occasion He told Dr. Sanderson that he did not believe the Church-Government as by Law establish'd was in either of the aforesaid respects or any other way prejudicial to his Crown Nevertheless he requir'd that Learned Man from whom I borrow'd this Relation to draw up an Answer to those two Objections for the satisfaction of others which he did accordingly And I shall only crave leave to transcribe from him the following words which he uses near the Conclusion of his Treatise By this time says he I doubt not all that are not wilfully blind do see and understand by sad experience that it had been far better both with King and Kingdom than now it is or is like to be in haste if the Enemies of Episcopacy had meant no worse to the King and his Crown than the Bishops and those that favour'd them did I shall not further exercise your patience in going about to prove that the Clergy were faithful to the Crown in the Reign of King Charles the Second You may well enough remember what King James the Second acknowledged that the Church of England had been eminently Loyal in the defence of his Father and support of his Brother in the worst of Times But that our Church-men have since revolted from their Principles which were then said to be for Monarchy I do not understand Nor was our Author willing in plain terms to inform us when it was that they became such Examples of Malignity lest the Calumny might easily be detected Yet Obscure as he is he hath left us a Key to his meaning for he intimates that they have been found to be dangerous by fresh experience when they were not in the Measures and Interests of the Government respecting doubtless the late Times before the great Revolution And so the Secret comes out which was at the bottom and rais'd his Indignation In the Opinion you see of this Gentleman the Clergy were
to be acquainted with those Gentlemen to whom he dedicates his Book But if I am not mistaken in their Character they are of more Judgment than to believe that if others were as Candid as themselves this Idea which he so much magnifies would be of Infinite Advantage They will rather perceive that it would not otherwise put an end to the Fatal Controversies that have perplext the Church than Poison would cure Diseases that is by the death of the Patients For 't is evident that the design of it is to abrogate the Authority which Christ bestow'd on his Ecclesiastical Officers and consequently our Author instead of Intitling his Book The Nature of Church-Government Freely Discussed might more fitly have call'd it A Treatise of Church-Anarchy or Church-Confusion I know not whether the Applause of his Performances be continued to him in his own Person which he first receiv'd by Proxy from the neighbouring Dissenters But sure I am that he contradicts the avowed Principles of their Party and the sense of their Writers He contends that the Pastors of the Church have no Authority but what they derive from the State He makes Church-Government a meer Prudential Thing and Alterable in the Form of it according to the various Forms of the Civil Government and argues that it ought to take its Model from the appointment of the Civil Magistrate Whereas their other Writers tell us That a Spiritual Extraction of a Legitimate Ecclesiastical Power cannot be made from a Secular Root That the Introduction of Humane Authority into the Rule of the Church of Christ in any kind destroyeth the Nature of it That there is but one Form of Government laid down in the Word and that Unchangeable and that to think Church-Government must be fram'd according to the Common-wealth or Civil Government is as if one should fashion his House according to his Hangings But that his Friends may not resent the matter too highly when they find how they have been impos'd on by him I can assure them that in contradicting their Authors he uses them no worse than he does himself For having formerly concluded from 2 Thess 2.15 that it was the duty of Christians to preserve the same Government in the Churches after the Apostles days that was appointed and practis'd in them he now comes to prove that let the Government in those days be what it will it is but a Prudential and Ambulatory Thing and lyable to Changes according to the difference of Times and Occasions And that his Friends may not for the future expect to find him any more fix'd or steady he professes in his Epistle Dedicatory that he hath nothing of fondness in him for any Opinions He hath as little fondness in him for the Authority of the Apostles as he hath for his own Opinions For however he takes Diocesan Prelacy to be a Degeneracy or Defection from an Apostolical Constitution yet he boasts of his Vindication of it upon Prudential grounds He represents Episcopacy as a Corruption and yet he supposes that it is of Divine Right when it is by Law established The truth is he hath confusedly jumbl'd together the Notions of the Dissenters and the Principles of Hobbes and Erastus and with this odd kind of mixture he thinks himself sufficiently qualified to heal the Breaches of Christendom Before him one Peter Cornelius Van Zurick-zee set up for a Reconciler General and his Project for Union was that in every City and in every County there should be appointed a General Meeting-place in which the Christians of all Persuasions should be requir'd to assemble together that they might hear the Scriptures read and afterwards talk about them and give their Interpretations of them according to their various Sentiments Of this Device he had such a conceit that leaving his Family and Native Country he cross'd the Seas that he might reveal it in England expecting that here it would receive a kind entertainment and from hence break forth as a Light into all other Countries and Nations But whether this Man or the Free Discusser hath furnish'd us with a better Plan of an Universal Peace or whether Prudential Reason hath been more happy than a Freak of Enthusiasm in proposing a Method of Union or Scheme of Ecclesiastical Polity I leave you to determine In the mean time I am of opinion that the way of governing Churches which is agreeable to the will of God was not to be invented or first discover'd fifteen or sixteen hundred years after the Birth of our Saviour I suppose a thing of such use must needs have been known to the Primitive Christians And they generally believ'd 1. That our Saviour Christ who was the Founder of Church-Government bestow'd on his Officers such Authority as qualified them for the Administration of it 2. That this Government was Episcopal from the beginning On these two things I have chiefly insisted in this Discourse but far more copiously on the last against which I met with the greatest opposition By which opposition I do not only mean That which hath been made by my Adversary for I have considerd the utmost that I could find objected on That side And upon the whole I am satisfied that it requires no great Abilities to defend Episcopacy and that it proceeds from the Goodness of the Cause that the more Learned the Opposers of it are the more ready have they been to let fall such things as may serve for the Vindication of it and answer their own Objections This was the Case of Blondel and Salmasius but more particularly of the last who hath so many things that favour my Hypothesis that of all Modern Authors none has been more useful to me than Walo Messalinus But all the assistance I have receiv'd from him has been only to confirm the Notions which I had before grounded on the Holy Scriptures the Testimony of the Ancients from which I have prov'd That Episcopacy was of Divine Institution and that meer Presbyters were generally subordinate to Superior Pastors in the Apostles days and afterwards in the best and purest Ages And if so there can be no doubt concerning the succeeding Times or of the Truth of what was affirm'd by the Lord Falkland in a warm Speech which he made against some of the Bishops that the Order of the Bishops hath always remain'd in the Churches from Christ to Calvin What I have said on this subject fastens an Imputation of Novelty on the Dissenters but I cannot help it and they have no reason to be offended at it For their own Friends the Elders and Messengers of the Congregational Churches who met at the Savoy confess that it is true in respect of the publick and open profession either of Presbytery or Independency this Nation hath been a stranger to each way it 's possible ever since it hath been Christian And I will adventure to add that the Nation may be
who was Bishop of Ephesus p. 104 Chap. 8. Apostolical Authority was communicated to Titus who was Bishop of Crete p. 132 Chap. 9. Apostolical Authority was communicated to the Angels mention'd Revel 1.20 who were Bishops of the Asiatick Churches p. 144 Chap. 10. Objections against Episcopacy taken from the Writings of the first Century consider'd p. 164 Chap. 11. After the Apostles Decease the Churches were govern'd by single Persons who were distinguish'd by the Name of Bishops p. 172 Chap. 12. The Bishops were Successors of the Apostles p. 178 Chap. 13. The Bishops after the example of the Apostles stood related amongst themselves as Equals but to other Ecclesiastical Officers as Superiors p. 190 Chap. 14. After the Apostles days there was no space of time nor any Country where Christianity prevail'd without Episcopacy p. 207 Chap. 15. Objections against Episcopacy taken from the Writings of the Fathers and some Later Authors examin'd p. 215 Chap. 16. Prelacy is no degeneracy from an Apostolical Constitution The Pastours of the Church that came next after the Apostles did not conspire to deprave any Form of Government which was of Divine appointment p. 236 Chap. 17. Episcopacy cannot be thought a degeneracy from an Apostolical Constitution if the Testimony of the Fathers may be admitted Their Testimony vindicated p. 250 Chap. 18. The Testimony of the Fathers is necessary for the ascertaining to us the Canon of the Holy Scripture It is as Cogent for the Divine Original of Episcopacy p. 264 A Catalogue of BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in S. Paul's Church-Yard London 1692. AN Enquiry after Happiness in several Parts by the Author of Practical Christianity Vol. 1. Of the Possibility of Obtaining Happiness The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged in Octavo 1692. Price 3 s. 6. d. Of the True Notion of Humane Life or a Second Part of the Enquiry after Happiness in Octavo 1690. Price 2 s. 6 d. The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation In Two Parts viz. The Heavenly Bodies Elements Meteors Fossils Vegetables Animals Beasts Birds Fishes and Insects more particularly in the Body of the Earth its Figure Motion and Consistency and in the Admirable Structure of the Bodies of Man and other Animals as also in their Generation c. By John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society The Second Edition very much Enlarged Printed in Octavo Price 3 s. Miscellaneous Discourses concerning the Dissolution and Changes of the World wherein the Primitive Chaos and Creation the General Deluge Fountains Formed Stones Sea-Shells found in the Earth Subterraneous Trees Mountains Earthquakes Vulcano's the Universal Conflagration and Future State are largly Discussed and Examined By John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society in Octavo 1692. Price 2 s. 6 d. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperour concerning himself Treating of a Natural Man's Happiness Wherein it consisteth and of the Means to attain unto it Translated out of the Original Greek with Notes By Meric Casaubon D. D. The Fifth Edition to which is added The Life of Antoninus with some Select Remarks upon the whole by Monsieur and Madam Dacier never before in English in Octavo 1692. Price 5 s. A TREATISE OF Church-Government Address'd to the AUTHOR of the LETTERS Concerning the same Subject CHAP. I. Jesus Christ the Founder of Church Government The Apostles the first Officers that he constituted To them he gave no Temporal Authority yet did communicate to them that which is Spiritual SIR SINCE you have been pleas'd to declare to the World what expectation you had that I would give you a Scheme of my thoughts concerning Church-Government your Readers have occasion enough to enquire how you could meet with disappointment when you had the Papers before you wherein I had largely handled that Subject and whilst you pretend to have drawn the things from thence which you endeavour to confute and not from your own Invention The truth is this Address would have been unnecessary had you fully related my sense of the matters in debate between us as you found it express'd in my private Letters But the representations you have made of it are so very defective that I think my self obliged to communicate to publick view the Principles on which I proceeded with a Vindication of them And I begin with what is evident enough That our Saviour Christ who is Head of the Church was the Founder of Ecclesiastical Government and consequently it proceeded from a Divine Institution The Original of this Government being known we may the more easily gain a true Idea of its Nature for that may best be discern'd when we consider it in the greatest Purity as it came out of the hands of our Lord and was exercis'd by his Apostles who were the first Ministers that he ordain'd And upon enquiry we shall find That to qualifie them for the administration of it he gave them no Temporal Jurisdiction and yet did communicate to them Spiritual Authority That amongst themselves they stood related as Equals but to other Ecclesiastical Officers as Superiors And on these things all that I have to say of Church-Government will depend An easie Enquiry will inform us that our Saviour gave his Apostles no Temporal Jurisdiction For it is plain that he did not send them to exercise any such Dominion as was possess'd by the Kings of the Earth or the Lords of the Gentiles Nor did he any where disingage them from Subjection to the Civil Magistrate He gave them Commission to combate nothing but Ignorance and Vice and when he call'd them to resist unto blood it was that of themselves and not of other men And according to the Instructions they receiv'd they taught and practis'd Submission to Secular Princes not only for Wrath but Conscience sake and in all their Conduct nothing appear'd that might give any just occasion of Jealousie to the State or create Disturbance to the Empire Our Saviour said indeed that when he was lifted up from the Earth he would draw all men unto him But these words signifying what death he should die are far enough from the sense which Jacobus de Terano puts upon them For that wretched Paraphrast introduces our Lord speaking after this manner I will recover all the Empires and Kingdoms of the World and take them from Cesar and from Kings and Princes by my Souldiers the Apostles With such prodigious flattery says Marquardus Freherus from whom I borrow'd that Observation the Books of Augustinus de Ancona and other Papal Parasites are stuft and with such Ornaments are the Decretal Epistles embellished To these he might have added the Annals of Baronius who amongst other things that occur in them of like nature grounds the Doctrine of deposing Princes on that expression Arise Peter kill and eat And accordingly that Doctrine prevail'd by killing and devouring It made its impressions with Blood and Violence but not without the assistance of
their Equals but subject to their Authority I will not contend as you have done that a Diocesan compar'd to an Apostle is less in Authority than a Parish Priest nor can I approve what you take for granted that the Apostles could constitute no Officers over whom they did not retain a Jurisdiction But since you offer more than I can accept you allow as much as I demand which is only this that Presbyters were subordinate to the Apostles If there be now any doubt whether the Title of Bishops may fitly be assign'd to the Apostles whose Authority was Prelatical that may easily be resolv'd from hence that when the Psalmist in one of his Prophecies and S. Peter in the Application of it spake of a Bishoprick they mean't an Apostleship His Bishoprick say they let another take that is let another be chosen in the room of Judas to bear the Office of an Apostle and accordingly the Apostles are said to have been Bishops by S. Cyprian and by Hilarius Sardus and other Ancient Writers CHAP. III. If the Apostles were Bishops Episcopacy is of a Divine Original The Objection against this that the Apostles were Extraordinary Officers consider'd IF the Apostles were Bishops of the Church and if they had Episcopal Authority over Presbyters Episcopacy is not a mere prudential thing as you suggest or a defection from the first Rule of Ecclesiastical Government It was not the Invention of a Diotrephes or a Creature of Ambition but proceeded from our Lord himself and is of a Divine Extraction But however the Apostles were Bishops you conclude that they were not Precedents for Government in succeeding times because as you tell me they were Extraordinary Officers And in this Assertion you stand not single for it has been often urged by others and readily receiv'd by Persons of different Persuasions Nevertheless I think we ought not without due examination to admit a pretence which has been made use of to very bad purposes The greatest Zealots for the Papal Monarchy tell us that S. Peter only convey'd his Power to his Successors but as for the rest of the Apostles their Authority was Extraordinary and died with them But this the Socinians affirm of them all And the same reason for which they conclude that an end was put to the Apostolical Office they employ also to cancel the use of Ministerial Mission or Ordination They grant indeed that such Mission was requisite for the first Preachers of the Gospel but assert that now it is become unnecessary since we are not to teach a new Doctrine with which the World is unacquainted but to explain the old one But at this rate they that are weary of any Ordinance of Christ which is of positive Institution need but fasten on it the Name of Extraordinary and then it must be of no longer continuance I have therefore been desirous to know what Standard you have for Extraordinaries And on this occasion you have oblig'd me with an Act of pure Generosity for which I never ask'd You send me to Cicero and Lipsius to shew what were the Extraordinary Honors Power Magistrates among the Romans which I knew well enough before But what I demand is some plain and certain Rule by which the things design'd for continuance in the Christian Church may be distinguished from those that were shortly to expire And such a Standard as this I have not been able to obtain from you I must therefore be content to state the matter as well as I can without it and for that purpose I shall here set down some things wherein I suppose we are agreed 1. We are agreed that they are Extraordinary Officers who are only rais'd on some particular or special occasion or accident to which their work is limited But then it must be granted that whatsoever proves not that the Work or Office of the Apostles was limited to their own time or that they might have no Successors neither doth it prove them to have been Extraordinary Officers This I take to be manifest enough and what use I intend to make of it will shortly appear 2. We are agreed That Persons in Office may have Successors in some things who have none in others particularly they may have those for Successors in their Ordinary Work who are not so in some of their Privileges We have great reason for this for otherwise no Succession of Ecclesiastical Officers could have been preserv'd and we must have remain'd like the old Acephali without Ministers and without Sacraments 3. We are agreed that the Apostles themselves had Successors in their Ordinary work But that we may rightly understand one another and that nothing may disturb so friendly an accommodation I farther add 1. That I take all that to be their Ordinary work which others also did perform by the Authority they received from them and which hath been continued in the Church ever since their days 2. I call that their Extraordinary work which was peculiar to them Accordingly you may reckon amongst Extraordinaries such Circumstances as were appropriate to themselves or their actions and whatsoever Privileges and Qualifications they had which were incommunicable you may also set them down in your Catalogue of Extraordinaries for they were Personal and died with them 4. We are agreed that to teach and instruct the People in the Duties and Principles of Religion to administer the Sacraments to constitute Guides and to exercise the Discipline and Government of the Church was the Apostles Ordinary work This is what you your self assign unto them as such in the words of Dr. Cave which I cannot but approve But you must put a strange Interpretation on them if they do not overthrow that for which you produced them For if as you say well after that Excellent Author it did belong to the standing and perpetual part of the Apostles work to exercise the Discipline and Government of the Church that must be either such a Discipline or such a Government as they did not exercise or such as they did If you say the first of these you suppose that to have been their Ordinary work which was not their work at all If you say the last then it will follow that such Government as they exercis'd and which was Prelatical ought to be continued to the end of the World I might now justly neglect all your Arguments drawn from the number of the Apostles from their seeing Christ and the Mission they receiv'd immediately from him from their being the Foundation of the Church and the Power they had to work Miracles from the Extent of their Charge and their unsetled condition by which you would prove that they are Extraordinary Officers for you may furnish your self with a Reply to them from the Articles of our Agreement But in hopes to give farther light to what has been said before I am content to attend your Motions and you are like to find me liberal