then a way and means is offered to those other Towns that are capable of this Government to set it up in them also 4. Before this can be set up Parochial bounds ought to be dissolved 5. Where are not publike meeting places there any convenient private houses are to be made use of 6. That those Ministers that are not of the Church ministry be not admitted to baptize or administer the Sacraments of the Lords Supper in the place they exercise 8. That they are to be subject to the Presbytery of that Church they are Members of that so they preach no other Doctrine but what is to be taught without the Church 7. That the Ministers without the Church be Members of some Church near them or not be admitted to minister to which they shall minister preparing men for it It is observable there was no standing ministry in the Apostles time but where were Churches of Saints in Communion the other ministry if they were persecuted in a place may leave it 9. Those that teach without the Church should be maintained by the state allowance Tithes dissolved Gal. 6.6 Let him that is catechized communicate c. which without the Magistrates help would not be done by unbeleevers who love their Gold not their God 10. The Church Teachers should freely be maintained by their Members as by a freewil-offering 11. The whole of the Papal Episcopal Presbyterial Form is to be dissolved 1. This was done in the Mosaical Government and shall it not be in the Antichristian 2. Christ saith no man patcheth a new garment with an old peece no not a peece 3. It seems to me plain That the single Antichristian Minister Matth. 25.18 had nothing Gold but the Talent he hid which was the Word in a strange tongue or if any thing else it was and will be taken from him 4. It is well observed by One Deum solere uno sigillo varias materias signare The truth wherof we may see in the two Temples before Christ the first was burnt and destroyed by the Chaldees so the first Temple estate by persecution was destroyed by Antichrist and the Heathen Emperors the second is builded by Zorubabel which is by Interpretation Fan Bable which is as truly to be verified now as then and more fully in us then them for they did not indeed Fan Bable but those set up the second Temple under the Gospel shall do it 5. Revel 21.5 Behold I will make all things new All things not some in the business of the new Jerusalem are to be made new The maner how it shall be done is set down by Peter and men cannot prevent it but those are happy that further it 2 Pet. 3.10 The Heavens and the host of them they pass away and are dissolved and burnt up I shall God willing in my Exposition of the Revelation speak of the new Earth Vers 11. Then there is the new Heaven follows in which dwelleth in Righteousness so that it is a most certain truth all present Forms Government and ways of worship must be yea shall be dissolved before yea and for the advancement of the true way of Gospel worship Revel 6.12 13 14. shews you the time when this shall be and that is under the opening of the sixt Seal in which we at this instant are under and see the effects produced according to the truth of the great God revealed however the mockers and scoffers of the world have derided it so that they must and shall have their mouths stopped and be made ashamed at it Object In many great Towns and places where have been a faithful painful Ministry and are a godly people to constitute a Church in they have but one publike meeting place and how then can the several Ministries be set up there in Resp The Synagogues were the places the Apostles preached in to men without and separated the Disciples to private houses In which for the purest times of the Church the Saints were ministred unto and had no publike meeting places as now Which order is so clearly set out unto us in Scripture that it cannot be excepted against Acts 28.30 The necessity hereof appears 1. From the confusion in the Church and Church-Ordinances in which as they are now exercised nothing is done to the Saints edification 1. Men without the Spirit and without understanding cannot pray nor praise God but minde the things sung or said in a carnal maner against the minde of God they are dead to God to whom God is not a God nor they a people 2. In Preaching to Saints the Doctrine to be preached to the world cannot be to edification 2. And as there is a necessity of dividing the World from Saints so Saints from Saints without which can be no right edification among the Saints Illust The Gospel is compared to Leaven by degrees the lump so the Gospel is to be preached to men without to leaven them or gather them to the Society of Saints which would be gathered as yet into a few Churches Now as the Saints are increased and fit matter of a church prepared the Minister of the place may require helpers to be joyned with him for the constituting of the church to be constituted Obj. The people will not endure it Resp The people ordained to eternal life will rejoyce in it others that do not are not worthy of it In Hebr. chapt 8.20 we have mention made of two covenants the new and the old under which two covenants there are to be differing administrations the one of which ceaseth in the being of the other But before we proceed we may for the better understanding of things consider the covenant as it was made with Abraham Gen. 17.2 and 7. which is made to one man a beleever in Christ Galat. 3.16 to Abraham and his seed were the promises he saith not And to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ Now the administrations of divine Worship were exercised by the first-born of the Family they were the Priests during its time of standing The Apostle in this chapter speaks of the state of the covenant as after it was made to Moses ver 9. when God took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt Now in this there was in respect of the administrations and extent of it such a difference as if it had been another covenant 1 It is made to the whole Nation Exod 6.6 7. Say to the children of Israel c. I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God 2 The Priesthood is now a National Priesthood ver 3. 3 The sacrifices are for all the people Heb. 8.37 4 The Tabernacle is the standing place for publick worship to the whole people mentioned ver 5. Which cleerly proves that God respected the administrations under the covenant as made to the Israelites nationally in Egypt and not as made with Abraham before under which the
THE CHURCHES RESURRECTION OR The CREATING of the New Heavens Written by an unworthy Gospel-Minister JOHN BRAYN Rev. 21.2 And I John saw the holy City c. Acts 13.41 Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you London Printed for George Whittington at the Blew-Anchor in Cornhil near the Royal-Exchange 1649. To the Honorable The General Councel OF THE ARMY IN that I am assured you and your despised Armies are they by whom the Church is to be ushered out of her long hid estate into the world again I presume to present you with this insuing Tract as belonging to you which may something serve to help-direct your Councels in Church-affairs in the sound foundation whereof you will finde to consist the strength of your undertakings Councels and comforts to depend and issues to succeed it being the work onely of God to give man to his labor an expected end Now the Lord so direct you in your great undertakings to do the work of the Lord that he may have glory and you mercy in the day of Christ is the desire of Your Servant in the Gospel JO BRAYN To the Reader I Think good to acquaint thee that God may have the greater glory That the Form of Government I drew wholly from the Word before I saw the least footstep of it in the Primitive Practice mentioned by the Fathers which when I came to see them to be as so many Witnesses to the Truth I could not for the Truths sake but make it publique for thy profit It is not as large as intended but Epitomized onely my allowance for my Ministery being detained from me nor did I therefore translate but few of the Authorities cited some are for the use of the unlearned I desire you to pass by the errors committed in Printing it because having other occasions I could not attend the Press and it shall be your honor and be esteemed of Your Servant in the Gospel JO BRAYN IN these times it hath been the way of men to cry down the sound and saving Truths of God and the Gospel by branding them with terms of Novelty and New found Notions proudly and scornfully calling them ridiculous things in branding the men that God reveals them to with odious names hindring many from so much as trying the Truth then which Satan hath not had a greater Engine against the way of God in these last times which the tryal of the first and purest of Antiquity will reveal unto us and shew us how and I shall endeavor as my weak ability small reading and other great imployments will give me leave in these few sheets of Paper following to manifest And first THat the Government of the Church in the Primitive times was not looked on as in these latter times it hath been even to be a thing to be made conformal to every estate in which the Gospel is preached prudentially which is clearly to be proved by many witnesses but in that the Scripture saith Vnder two or three witnesses every thing shall be established I shall onely prove them by two or three and no more as being sufficient hereunto alone Tertullian who lived about Two hundred years after Christ saith Nobis vero nihil ex nostro arbitrio inducere licet sed nec eligere quod aliquis ex suo arbitrio induxerit Apostolos Domini habemus auctores qui nec ipsi quicquam ex suo arbitrio quod inducerent eligerunt sed acceptam à Christo disciplinam fideliter Nationibus assignarunt itaque etiamsi Angelus de coelis aliter Evangelizaret anathema diceretur à nobis De Praescrip Heret The sence this It is not lawful for us to induce any thing at our pleasure nor to choose that any one hath induced of his own will we have the Apostles of the Lord Authors who themselves nor chose nor brought in to the Church any thing of their free will but they faithfully assigned to the Nations the discipline received from Christ Therefore though an Angel from heaven should teach otherways let him be accounted as accursed of us Ap. What place is there then for a prudential Government in the Church How can Ministers plead for it or Magistrates set it up Dionisius Ep. to Demophilus Si distinctiones ordinesque confundere Sacratissimas Dei Sanctiones jura transgredi est omni profectò ratione caret Dei causâ pervertere traditum divinitùs ordinem neque enim in seipsum Dei sermo divisus est alioquin quomodo staret ejus regnum Clem. Alex. Lib. Strom. 7. p. 841. Quomodo ergo in bello non est ordo deserendus quem dedit imperator militi ita nec est deserendus ordo quem dedit nobis verbum quem accepimus principem ac ducem cognitionis vitae I may prove this by others but Tertull. whose Authority is questioned by none speaking to this exceeding pertinently I propose again as in his Book Adversus Marcion Et oportuerit utique prius alium Deum exponi postea ejus disciplinam induci quia Deus auctoritatem praestet disciplinae non Deo disciplina This I suppose proves sufficiently That in the Church no Discipline ought to be set up but what Christ in the Gospel hath commanded The second thing to be considered is The Ministery without the Church erected by Christ in the world to fit for the Church 1. The Books of Arnobius Lactantius Justin Martyr called Serm. ad Gentes prove it Clem. Alex. ad Gentes Venite venite ô meorum juvenum caetus nisi enim rursus efficiamini ut pueri regeneremini ut ait Scriptura eum qui vero est pater non recipietis neque unquam in regnum Coelorum intrabitis quando enim est hospiti permissum ingredi sed quando ut puto inscriptus fuerit cives effectus patrem acceperit tunc erit in numero filiorum patris tunc dignus habebitur qui sit haeres Come ye come ye O Congregation of my yong men for unless ye become again as children and be new born as the Scripture saith ye cannot receive him who is truly the Father nor shall ye ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven When is it permitted the stranger to enter but when as I think he is inrolled and made a Citizen and hath received the Father then he shall be in the number of the Fathers children That this was to unconverted Gentiles is without doubt and farther shews They were to be inrolled and receive the Father that is I suppose they were to profess Faith in and Obedience unto God before he could be a Citizen or a Son which at first must be an estate of childehood in the Church again though men by nature or they could not enter Clemens in Orat. adhor ad Gentes Praecursor Johannis vox verbum praecurrit vox adhortatoria praeparans ad
indeed the hiding of the Church no wonder if it be a hidden thing to us he saith in this place Omnes docebant omnes baptizabant he saith They observed not the time nor fasted before Baptism nor had Peter any Deacons at Cornelius house to Baptize as if the Deacons office was onely to Baptize he not minding that some of the seven may be with him and Baptize in all which he corruptly quarrels with the Apostles practice as if they had found a better form to serve God by then that of the Gospel which the Bishops of the times preceeding did correct and like the carnal Gentiles seeking to be wise became fools and like the foolish woman in the Proverbs pull'd down the House of God with both their hands and worse then she set up a Cage for unclean birds of their own predicted by Zech. 5.8 9. But of this in its place Ignatius Ep. to Policarpus He writing to Policarpus mentions the Presbytery and saith Vnà laborate inter vos unà certate unà currite c. ut dispensatores assessores ministri Dei. In the word Dispencers the admission of members to Ordinances is signified in Assessors their Government in general intended in Ministers their teaching 8. The Church was governed by these three conjunctly in Ecclesiastical things Ignatius to Trallis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is necessary whatever ye do ye go about nothing that is of Ecclesiastical publike concernment without the Bishop but also that ye submit to the Presbytery as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ In these is the Church true Presbytery onely and alone in these the Synod and Colledge of Ministery is existent and in none other Other Authority is Antichristian and tends to oppression of the Saints Tertull. in the forecited place de Exhortatione Castitatis Honor per ordinis consessum sanctificatus adeò ubi non est ecclesiastici ordinis consessus Offers Tinguis Sacerdos c. before he saith these have Ecclesiae aucthoritas the Church authority This is Consessus Ecclesiaestici ordinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and any other Ecclesiastical convent then this Juridical is not according to the Primitive Church and Gospel-frame this was the true Presbytery and all other then these are spurious and false To this well agreeth that of Mat. 18.19 that if two of you agree on earth c. The Church while it was according to the Gospel institution governed by these three it was called The pillar and ground of Truth but when that fell and Ministers of other Societies ruled then came the corruption of the Church the Lord not approving of them as is well observed in the Preface of the Bibles written To the Reader printed in King James's days yet for all that the learned knew That certain worthy men have been brought to untimely death for no other fault but for seeking to reduce their countrey-men to good order and discipline and that in some Common-weals it was made a capital crime once to motion the making of a new Law for the abrogating of an old though the same were most pernicious and that certain which would be accounted pillars of the State and paterns of vertue and prudence could not be brought for a long time to give way to good letters and refined speech but bare themselves as averse from them as from Rocks and boxes of Poyson And he was no babe viz. Greg. Theol. but a great Cler. that gave forth and in writing to posterity in passion peradventure That he had not seen any profit to come by any Synod or Meeting of the Clergy but rather the contrary By saying it was in passion was a good plaister for such a dangerous sore He shews what the Councels before him he living about 380. did and indeed God ordained That not many together but seven men of several ages signified by the seven Angels are onely to restore the faln Church Hieron 1 Cap. ad Titum saith When Presbyters governed Ecclesiae cura aequaliter inter plures dividebatur To this may be applyed that of Egisippus cited by Eusebius Vnà cum Apostolis suscepit Ecclesiam administrandam frater Domini Jacobus qui justus ab omnibus cognominatus This was understood of Peter and John Gal. 2.9 and not of all the Apostles Paul and Barnabas ministred to the Gentiles James the less was slain before he took this Government by Herod So that it is without question here is onely meant the three Apostles who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Peter calls himself 1 Pet. 6.1 according to the form of Government in the other Gospel Churches they being not differing one from another in form of Government Jerusalem being the patern or mother Church This Book is said to contain Apostolical Traditions but is lost and a counterfeit left in its place Nicephor Eccl. Hist l. 3. c. 26. 9. As the Ministers so the People were distinguished Anthanasius cites Theognostus in his Tract de verbis Evang. Matthei cap. 2. ver 31. quicunque dixerit c. Qui semel atque iterum terminos praetergressus ost minus feret supplicii qui vero tertio contempserit nullam veniam consequi potest Here by the bounds of the Church I understand the threefold Societies of the Saints under the third whereof if any contemned there was no pardon Athanasius primum secundum terminos appellat Catechesin hoc est initiationem de patre filio tertium vero qui est in consummatione mysteriorum sermone qui traditur in communicatione spiritus This shews the Government was much hid in Athanasius time he saith Catechizing was initiation which was not but in Baptism under the Doctors Ministery was initiation and not under the Catechists Ministery And then he saith In Catechizing were to be understood the two first bounds which was but one part of Ministery and that not of the Church neither without doubt Theognostus alludes to that of the Apostle Heb. 6.4 5 6. He is more clear in that which followeth Verum ex his nequaquam aliquis dicere poterit quod doctrina spiritus excellentior sit doctrina filii sed filius sese dimittat ad imbecillitatem imperfectorum spiritus autem signaculum est eorum qui perfecti sunt proinde non irremissibilis incondonabilis est blasphemia in spiritum quòd spiritus major est filio sed quod imperfectis detur venia iis vero qui gustaverunt coeleste donum quique perfecti sunt nulla relinquatur ad veniam excusatio aut paenae excusatio 1. Here are three bounds expressed of the Church 2. In these the Saints are divided according to their gifts in one the imperfect the other the perfect 3. In Athansius time these bounds were destroyed 4. He alludes these three Mansions to the Trinity making that the ground of them as the other before Dionisius distinguisheth them by these names Rudes illuminati perfecti Simil. Herm. 9. Omnos enim infantes honorati
Stars Whence is great matter of encouragement to be ministred to men to grow in grace and to contend for perfection in the Church for this life for that to come whereas in our Societies there is none at all Tertul. in the same book hath excellently distinguished them had not the enemies of truth labored to obscure it saying Non omnis caro est eadem caro non ad denegandum substantiae communionem sed praerogativae peraequationem corpus honoris non generis in differentiam redigens in hoc figurata subjicit exempla animalium elementorum alia caro hominis id est servi Dei qui vere homo est alia Jumenti id est Ethnici de quò propheta Adsimilatus est homo irrationalibus Jumentis alia caro volucrum id est Martyrum alia caro piscium id est quibus aquâ baptismatis sufficit Here Caro volucrum should be for Martyrum Juvenum for Tertul. applyeth it to the differing estate of the general Church Societies and then the comparison sweetly agrees with the Church and the world Ethnick to which it is compared but the words following abundantly clear it Ad disciplinam totam hoc dirigit now Martyrdom pertains not to Church discipline ut hic dicat portandam imaginem Christi in ista carne in justo tempore disciplinae Mark it well in just time of discipline applying to the times of infancy of youth and Christian man-age according to the order of Christian discipline in the Church and not natural growth Again for the manifestation of the study and endeavor of these children of Error to pervert the right ways of God for which they had leave of God to accomplish his own purpose for the hiding of the Church and proves the way to be the true way because they endeavored so much to hide it Tertul. de praescr Haeret. Quid ergo si Episcopus si Diaconus si vidua si virgo si Doctor si etiam Martyr lapsus à regula fuerit ideo haereses veritatem videbuntur obtinere ex personis probamus fidem an ex fide personas 1. Here is vidua and Diaconus before Doctor and in stead of Pastor virgo put in a meer plain Popish foist and no way countenanced of the truth 2. I suppose as virgo so Martyr is also added to make the confusion the greater For how can a man be a Martyr as that word is usually taken and fall from the Rule in which is to be seen how unprofitable the writing of the Ancients are in themselves what diligent care is to be taken in them and how useless without the Word unto us 3. If this be not assented to how can the whole Church officers be mentioned in this place as intended by the Author so that there is a putting in and putting out and inversion of order clearly seen in it and this was practised before Tertullians days but much more after appears by the Obtestation placed by Hyrenaeus at the end of a book now lost Adjuro te qui transcribis librum istum per Dominum Jesum Christum per gloriosum ejus adventum quò judicaturus est vivos mortuos ut conferas postquam transcripseris emendes illum ad exemplar unde scripsisti diligentissime hanc quoque obtestationem similiter transferas ut juvenisti in exemplari 10. Now that the people were thus in Ministery and places ordinarily divided and at the administration of the Sacraments were to meet together 1 Cor. 11.20 appears Ignatius Ep. to Philadelp Vnus etiam panis pro omnibus confractus est unus calix totius ecclesiae That this Epistle is ancient appears from the allowance of the Cup to the whole Church Clem. Alex. tells Those were newly ingrafted into the Church they were not to enjoy mean things onely as they looked on them At vero augustior illa unius ejusdemque panis calicis communis pacifita que communio concordiae illis ut fratribus unà educatis Divinas statuit leges Dionysius only shews the manner how it was to be communicated to the members of the several Societies cap. 3. de Eccl. Hist. ElementÃsque which are the Sacramental bread and wine illius ad inferiora secunda processus finem facit diviniorem ad prima principaliora redditum 1. Here are three Societies expressed in the inferiour second and first 2. With his elements of bread and wine he comes to the children and then proceeds to the second the young men and returning ends at the first and more principall Society of Fathers How full and cleer this testimony is I leave to all to judge seeing it is the childrens bread but not the Catechumeni they were not baptized nor had any part in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 11. That the severall Societies under the severall Ministers were one Church appears Ignat. Ep. 5. ad Philadelph Gaudium sempiternum est singulare maximè iis quî sunt in unum cum Episcopo cum Presbyteris Diaconis probatis in voluntate Dei Patris per Dominum Jesum Christum In unum that is in unum corpus in one body This order was glanced at by Basil de Sp. Sanct. but I doubt not practised in the Church he living about 370. Profectò stulti omnino infantilis animi est puerÃque cui revera lacte opus est ignorare magnum illud necessarium salutis quod quemadmodum doctores facere solent in instituendis discipulis ita nos in exercitatione pietatis dum ad perfectionem inducimur primum perceptu facilioribus ac nostro modulo congruentibus ad incomprehensibilem scientiam paulatim introducti fuimus c. then after gives the reason ne protinus spectaculo purae lucis offensi caligaremus Gregor Nissen 380 An. de orat pauper Quemadmodum hi pueros è parentum manibus susceptos adhuc infantes balbutientes non protinus abditis disciplinarum praeceptionibus onerant sed primò literarum formas insculpunt in ceris earúmque nomina declarant ipsorum manus per impressos illos literarum ductus agunt exercent mox illos ad cognitionem syllabarum pervehunt atque ita deinceps ad verborum expressionem perducunt sit etiam Ecclesiae duces initio documenta quaedam quae sunt instar elementorum auditoribus proponunt Deinceps gradatim ea quae perfectiora magÃsque recondita sunt patefaciunt Jerem Ep. to Marcell shews a strange confusion to be in his time in the government of the Church An. 370. Episcopus tertius est apud Montanistas habent primos de Pepusa Phrygiae Patriarchas secundos quos Canones appellant atque ita in tertium id est penè ultimum locum Episcopi devolvuntur And then after of the Bishops who among the Montanists were degraded thus Locum Apostolorum tenent apud nos Which shews 1. In these times some Churches retained some more likenesse of the Gospel form then other though the true
that he could make him partaker of his office by Ordination and Election of the Church Lastly What his office and his labor was is set down in the last words Shewing The office delegated to him was to teach the first Elements to Beginners But reserveth to himself the Instruction of the Perfect This agreed neerly to the Gospel Patern and was also practised in the Church of Alexandria before but on a better call from which Institution Origen like himself changeth and seeketh to destroy as after For Neoterics it is not my purpose to cite any but that ye may see Calvine on whose judgement and practice the foundation of the Presbyterie is laid thought otherwaies of it then those which succeed him do who for ought I understand did better discern the Estate of the Church under that way of Administration then those succeed him in it do or seem to do Calvine 1. Ep. Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church First Apostles Secondarily Prophets Thirdly Teachers he having spoken largely before and shewing much uncertainty or unresolvednesse how the differing Ministry is to be exercized in the Church in the end concludes thus Si quis dissentat facilè patior neque rixas propterea excitabo est enim difficile judicare de donis muneribus quibus tam dui jam orbata fuit Ecclesia nisi quòd vestigia tantùm vel umbra adhuc apparent If any saith he dissents I am well content nor will I therefore stir up contentions for it is hard to judge of the gifts and Offices of which the Church hath now been so long deprived so that the signes only or shaddowes as yet appeare of them If this be truth then we are to inquire further for the knowledge of the true forme of Church-discipline then Calvine went further then whom I think Presbytery proceeds not though with higher and greater confidence then he did go or were he living I presume would goe on his first discoveries from his owne words nor do I see any thing altered in the Offices or dispensations of them now under the Presbyteriall forme from that Calvine in his institutions hath proposed but rather in that we rest as in the full and perfect discovery of the way of God laying claime to a Jus Divinum for a conformation of it 14. I come now to speak a word of the Apostacy of Church-discipline in the Church Euseb 3. l. 26. cap. Vsque ad tempora Trajani virgo munda immaculata permansit Ecclesia corruptoribus veritatis divini verbi temeratoribus aut nunquam omnino extantibus aut etiam si qui fortè fuerant in occultis abditis hiatibus terrae delitescentibus ut verò Apostolorum chorus omnis illa aetas quae a Domino susceperat vivae voces auditum de hac luce discessit tum velut in vacuam domum falsae doctrinae impius se error immersit tanquam ubi nullus jam diutius census desensor existeret nudato ut aiunt capite corripientes arma mendacii oppugnare Apostolicam veritatem nituntur sed istud bellum intrinsecùs gerebatur Nicephorus Eccles hist l. 3. cap. 19. saith Heresies began about Ignatius time Euseb lib. 4. cap. 21. He saith Simon the son of Mary Cleophas was ordained Bishop Electus ab omnibus pro eo quód esset consobrinus Domini propterea autem tunc Ecclesia virgo vocabatur quòd nondum fuerat adulterini verbi subreptione corrupta sed Theobutes quidem quia repulsus non meruit Episcopatum ipse caepit in initio perturbare omnia corrumpere qui erat ex septem haeresibus in populo constitutis c. 1. Here is the time of the Churches continuance in it's purity or virgin estate 2. Here is the time and cause of it's Apostacy Theobutus an Heretike troubling and corrupting all things because he could not be advanced to the Episcopacy of Jerusalem Yet with the Apostle John we may say that Antichrist already wrought for in these times when the Church kept not the forme of sound words not calling their Ministers by their proper names they made way for Antichrist to rise in a unspeakable manner little thought they that their allusions to the legall Ministry and naming the Evangelist Pontifex from Aaron the Pastor Sacerdos from his sons and the Teacher Minister from the Levits was the name means and way by which Antichrist at his inthronment should take up The same may be said of Ignatius if the word Episcopus be not adulterous and put in for Evangelist which I suppose came thus to passe the whole Governments being rightly called Episcopacy as said of Judas Acts 1.20 Let an other take his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now in time the senior Presbyter or Government by way of eminency was called Bishop though à principio non fuit Hyreneus requires in Presbyters lib. 4. cap. 43. successionem Episcopatus Those wrote now mentioned here in this tract Clement Rom. whos 's 1. Epist is strangely corrupted and divers other spurious writings go under his name written long since vide Scult Anno 90. Ignatius Policarp Epist Anno 70. Dionysius Areopag who is questioned for his antiquity the very things he is questioned for prove it many waies And Scultetus after all the objections he had made against his antiquity saith Quiscunque autem Dionysius iste fuerit antiquus fuerit necesse est quòd ipsa ecclesiastica ordinationis forma docet c. In his Medulla Theolog. Patrum he is said to be about an 80. In the second Century corruptions began to increase much Justinus 130. Hogesippus 190. the 5. Books passe under his name now have only the History of the Jewes destruction and nothing of the Apostolicall traditions as the right Egisippus is said by Eusebius Nicephorus and others to have Ireneus 170. Clem. Alex. 200. Tertull. Anno. 200. some would 160. Tertull. de proscrip advers haeret complaines of the Lay Peoples taking the Ministry on them saith Qui hodie Presbyter cras Laicus Againe he shewes in his time began the corruption of the Church by a mixture of societies crying out Pariter adeunt pariter audiunt pariter erant quis Cathecumenus quis fidelis incertum est 1. See in the beginning it was only of Catechists and Believers that they came in one place together were taught together and prayed together what would he say of our Societies in which all altogether do these and more also receiving Sacraments also together 2. He calls these Societies only then the Societies of Heretikes 3. The devill of this was such he observes it was not knowne who was a believer who a Catecumenus may not we say to him as the Pharisees to Christ in saying this thou reproachest us also and no people ever were more guilty of reproach hence then we in this Kingdome are About this time in this Kingdome was set up the first Nationall Church in the world the first Archbishops and their suffragans